Different Worlds
by LeFlemings
Summary: AU, Izaya is caught sneaking around in the west-tribe's woods. The leader decides not to kill him, but instead he has Shizuo take care of him to raise him as a part of their tribe. Shizaya/Yaoi/Smut/Fluff/M-rated for later chapters/OOC
1. Captive

Two men came back to the camp with a young boy, who struggled to get free from their grip. They hurried to their leader's tent, dragging the boy across the dirty and dusty land. People came out of their tiny tents and saw what the fuss was about.

"Let me go! Arh!" Izaya exclaimed, squirming to get free.

The men pushed the leather, which covered the entrance to the tent, aside and forced Izaya to get down on his knees. "We found him lurking around in the woods" one of the men said.

"Hmpft!" he let out as his knees hit the ground. He raised his head and looked at the man before him.

"Hm?" a tall, very muscular man hummed as he stepped closer to this unfamiliar boy. He had long dark brown hair and had an expression of pure hate. His entire body was tanned and handsome. A piece of leather covered his abdomen front and back, but that was the only form of clothing he wore. "What's this?" he narrowed his eyes, examining the boy. "Where are you from?"

Izaya turned his gaze to the ground. He was nervous and didn't want to say which tribe he was from.

The men holding Izaya shook him a bit. "He didn't tell us anything either"

"Very well. I won't kill him, but tie him to the pole, so that everyone can see him" the leader ordered as he turned around and waved the men away. They lifted Izaya up and pulled him to the pole, which was placed in the centre of everything. They pushed him against it. One of the males pulling his hands around to the back of the wooden pole, the other finding some rope to tie his hands together with.

"Wai-, stop!" Izaya exclaimed, trying to get away but with no luck. He was smaller than them and he definitely wasn't _that _strong despite being male.

The two males finished and went back to the leader's tent.

"Wait! Let me go!" he yelled at them, but then noticed all the people staring at him and he suddenly felt a bit shy. His gaze turned to the ground, head bowed. [What have I gotten myself into?]

A little girl sneaked over to him and glared at him, curiously. She bit on her index finger as she watched him.

Izaya was only wearing a brown piece of leather around his waist, which covered his private part and his behind. He had a piece of leather around his ankle too. A brown one.

Izaya lifted his head to look at the small girl. He had to admit she looked cute, being all innocent and so tiny.

"Nera-chan! Come here!" the girl's mother called, motioning her to come. The girl giggled, carefully waved at the stranger and ran back to her mother.

[Strange girl...] he thought as he watched the girl leave. That's when he remembered everyone was staring and quickly turned his gaze back to the ground. It was embarrassing. He hated being in the centre of attention like that. At least when tied to a pole.

A couple of the women were giggling and chatting as they pointed towards the boy. "He looks so fragile! How could he possibly survive out there in the woods?" one of them said to the others.

"I don't know, but he sure is strange" another giggled and held her hand up to her mouth.

[You know I can hear you, right?] He thought as he bowed his head a bit more, feeling ashamed. But it wasn't his fault that he was thin! It's not like he was all skin and bones anyway... He was just slightly skinny. Nothing more.

"I wonder why the leader keeps him alive? He's no good" the third woman mumbled to them both.

[Wow, thank you... But I do wonder too... Wouldn't you normally get killed? I at least thought so...]

With that last remark the leader came out of his tent. He moved over towards the raven and looked down at him. "Look at me" he demanded. Izaya flinched and tensed at the harsh voice but slowly did as told and looked up at the man.

He scowled at the boy and grabbed his chin, studying his face. "Where are you from?" he asked again. The chit-chat from the ladies had stopped and they just stared at the scene.

Izaya kept quiet.

"Tell me where you are from!" he raised his voice.

Izaya closed his eyes tightly as the man yelled. "The northern tribe" he let out.

The other male let go of Izaya's chin. "Well, well. You do know you're on western territory, yes?"

"Yes..."

"Now, why would you bother come here, when you know that the western and the northern tribes aren't allies?" he folded his arms and sent Izaya a dangerous look.

Izaya bowed his head again, staring at the ground. "Orders..."

"Orders?" he raised a brow.

"Yes..."

"What orders?" he hissed.

"From our leader"

"Don't fuck with me!" he grabbed Izaya by the hair and forced him to look into the leader's eyes. "What orders" he repeated, slightly angrier.

"Hn!" he let out closing his eyes.

"Tell me, right now!"

Izaya kept silent. He wasn't gonna tell him no matter what. He couldn't do that to his tribe.

"If that's how it is going to be" he growled and let go. "Heiwajima Shizuo!" he called out.

Izaya bowed his head again as he was released. [Heiwajima... Shizuo?]

A blonde came out of his tent, dressed like all the other males in the tribe. He frowned for a moment before he approached the leader, bowing as he stood in front of him. "Yes?" he asked as he looked back up at the other male.

"I want you to.. deal with this boy" the leader said as he raised a brow. The blonde sent the boy a glance and then looked away.

"What? I can't do that? I don't have time for that" Shizuo explained.

"That is how it is going to be" the leader said, determined. "You will raise him after our traditions and rules. I want him to betray his own tribe" he said and waved two of his men over to them.

"But-" Shizuo tried but was stopped by the other.

"No, you don't have a choice" the other said.

Izaya hadn't looked up at the guy the leader was talking to. But he listened to their conversation. [Betray my tribe? I won't do that...]

"Untie him" he mumbled to his, apparently, two guards. "If he messes up, or creates chaos, both of you will get punished" he said angrily.

"But that's not fair" Shizuo said, feeling uneasy. "What if he tries to escape? Would that also be my responsibility?" Shizuo frowned.

"Indeed it will" the leader nodded. Shizuo kept quiet and gave up. There was no way he could talk back at his leader.

Great... Izaya didn't want to cause the guy trouble... So he couldn't really escape. Or could he? He didn't know the guy anyway. But he did sound like a nice guy.

The two men lifted Izaya up from the ground and made sure he wouldn't escape from their grasp. Shizuo sighed, bowed to the leader and went back to his own tent, the three males following him.

Izaya made a few attempts to get away from their grip but after that he followed quietly, keeping his gaze at the ground to make sure no one would be able to see his face.

Shizuo held the leather material aside, so that the men could come in without worrying about that. They carelessly left Izaya in the middle of the tent, which seemed like a tiny kitchen, with some clay pots standing here and there. They left the two of them alone short after dropping Izaya to the ground. Shizuo kept an eye on the strange-looking male.

[Ow... Throwing me around all the time...]

* * *

Signe: Alright.. This is based on Christine's daydream xD Yes, it's true xD Hope you like it! Review, please!  
Christine: I have weird kinks… mehehe~


	2. You Won't Get Far With Silence

Shizuo took a deep breath and approached the other, kneeling down before him. "What's your name?" The male didn't answer. "Age?" No reply. The blonde frowned. "Look.. I don't want any trouble.."

[Me neither.. And the worst part is that you sound like a nice guy... I don't want to cause you trouble... Damn...] Izaya shook his head, agreeing with the other male.

"Can you even talk?"

The other nodded in response.

"Then.. tell me your name?"

"O... Orihara Izaya."

"Orihara Izaya?" Shizuo's frown deepened. "That's an odd name."

Izaya bowed his head a bit more and nodded.

Shizuo coughed in his hand and looked around. "I don't really now what you can do.." The other shook his head. "Hmm.." Shizuo was deep in thought.

Izaya turned his head a bit to the side, away from Shizuo, and saw some pots. Nothing special, really, but better than in his tribe.

"Oh, well.. I have no idea where you're going to sleep either.." Shizuo looked around but found nothing which could be used as a bed. Izaya only nodded again and looked down at his hands.

Shizuo rose from the hard ground and went past Izaya and over to his bed. "I guess.." he scratched the back of his head. "We could share the bed?" Shizuo offered, feeling slightly annoyed over asking if the boy would mind sharing a bed with him.

Izaya's body tensed. Share a bed with a stranger? And a _man _too? Wasn't that a bit strange? Well, not like he had much of a choice... If there wasn't anywhere else for him to sleep, he would have to suck it up and do as told. Because he didn't want to cause the guy trouble. The guy named Heiwajima Shizuo. Izaya nodded lightly.

"Hm?" Shizuo turned around to face the other. He hadn't got any response of which he could hear. Izaya lightly nodded again. "You're allowed to talk you know.." Shizuo was getting a bit frustrated over the other's behaviour.

"Yes." he finally replied.

"Anyway," the blonde sighed. "I have work to do.." he said and sat down on the ground, grabbed a sharp rock and started cutting flakes off of a piece of wood.

Izaya heard the noise and he had to admit it made him curious as to what Shizuo actually did in this tribe. He turned his head and looked towards Shizuo.

The blonde stopped and looked at Izaya. "What?"

Izaya quickly turned back around to hide his face.

"Curious?"

Izaya nodded again.

"Then don't look away."

The boy hesitated but turned around and crawled to Shizuo, making sure to bow his head. He sat down next to the other, while making sure to keep a certain distance to Shizuo as he focused on the male's unmoving hands.

Shizuo continued cutting the wooden flakes off, letting them fall to the ground. The wooden stick was beginning to form a pointy end, which Shizuo seemed content with. He would stop cutting to feel how sharp it was, only to continue a bit more.

Izaya simply watched as the other worked. He moved his head up slightly, to look at the other from the corner of his eye. He had blonde hair and was quite handsome.

"My name is Shizuo by the way." the blonde said as he continued to do his work.

Izaya nodded and looked back at Shizuo's hands.

Shizuo looked at the raven-haired, putting the wooden stick on the ground. "Want to tell me your age now?"

"17."

"17?" Shizuo repeated, raising a brow. "Look at me." he demanded.

Izaya hesitated and fiddled with the leather around his waist.

"Hey.." Shizuo mumbled. "I won't hurt you."

Izaya slowly turned his head to look at the blonde, but quickly turned away again when he saw the blonde was looking back at him.

The blonde frowned. "Let me see those eyes again."

Izaya didn't say nor do anything. He just kept focus on his hands fiddling with the leather.

"Oi…" Shizuo grabbed the other's chin and forced Izaya to look at him.

"Nn." Izaya let out and closed his eyes tightly.

"Look at me." Shizuo repeated; his eyes flickering between the other's, waiting for him to open them.

Izaya slowly opened his eyes, looking into the other's. They were caramel coloured. Quite pretty, actually.

"That's odd." the blonde frowned. "You have red eyes.." he mumbled.

Izaya pulled away from Shizuo's grip and looked down at his hands again, feeling more nervous than before. He had a lot to worry about after all. His family was in his tribe, and he might never see them again.

"Why do you have red eyes?"

"I was born with them…" he squeezed out, biting his lip.

"They represent fire.." Shizuo mumbled.

"Eh?"

Shizuo gently smiled at him. "Don't worry. Fire is a great thing. But I guess.. it's incontrollable at some times."

"Is that bad?" he found the courage to ask.

"Is it bad that fire exists?" Shizuo raised a brow.

"G-guess not.."

"There's your answer" he paused. "We're all different." he continued.

"Yes… Umm.. How old are y-you?"

"20." the blonde answered and continued cutting the flakes off the stick.

"Okay.. Is this work?" he asked, pointing to what Shizuo was doing.

"It's what I do, yes."

"Do you like it?"

Shizuo stopped his movements and looked at the other. "I do.."

"That's g-good.."

"But.." Shizuo started.

"Hm?"

"I suppose.. I'd like to be a hunter instead. But that'll never happen."

"Why don't you just say so?"

Shizuo chuckled a bit. "That's not how it works."

"Eh? B-but if that's what you want to do?" he questioned, turning his head a bit to look curiously at the blonde.

"I was never supposed to become a hunter." Shizuo sighed.

"Why?"

"Because I was born too late for that." Shizuo shrugged.

"Eh? Born… too late?"

"You see.. The tribe likes to keep the numbers even. Male and female and so. If there is a male too much in the tribe, he becomes the person who makes weapons and such.. which means me." the male explained. "Or you could say that there wasn't a woman for me to be with." he added.

"That's… absurd.." he mumbled.

"How dare you!" Shizuo said, annoyed. "This is how my clan is."

Izaya flinched. "Sorry!" he quickly apologized, body tense as he grabbed the hem of the leather around his waist tightly.

"It's alright. But don't ever talk bad about my tribe again." Shizuo said.

"Sorry.. I'm sorry…"

"Good." the blonde nodded. "Tell me about yourself." he ordered.

[You pretty much just yelled at me… I can't talk to you that easily…] Izaya shrugged in response. It's not like he wanted to tell Shizuo anything about himself. But he knew he couldn't escape since he didn't want to trouble Shizuo either… What a dilemma.

"You heard me, didn't you?"

[Don't be angry… Please don't be angry with me.. Damn…] Izaya nodded.

"Then answer."

"I don't know what to say…"

"Just tell me about you."

"There's nothing to tell… There's nothing special about me." he said nervously.

"You aren't a nobody. Tell me about you."

"You're the first one to say that except for my family…" he mumbled to himself, making sure Shizuo wouldn't hear.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing." he quickly said.

"Then tell me about yourself."

"I'm from the northern tribe…"

"Mhmm.." Shizuo nodded and placed the finished spear on the ground.

"That's pretty much it…"

"Don't be stupid."

"Then I'm stupid too. That's it.. I don't want to talk about myself…"

"Why not?"

"I just don't want to…"

"There must be a reason as to why you don't want to." the blonde paused. "You had a terrible childhood?"

Izaya tensed. "Not _terrible_…"

"But it wasn't great either?"

Izaya shook his head, fiddling with the leather again. [Why am I telling him?]

"Hm? What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it… Tell me about you…"

"No, don't avoid it. I want you to tell me about yourself."

"I've said enough, ne?"

"You haven't told me anything." he sighed. "Do you want me to force you to speak?"

"Eh? F-force me?"

"I'm impatient and I have a short temper, so I might just beat you up, if you don't start talking." he paused. "There, I told you a bit more about myself."

Izaya tensed and hesitated before relaxing a bit more. "I… have black hair?" he tried.

"I'm not blind." Shizuo growled. "Your background. You. Your life. Anything _about _you."

Izaya looked behind him. "Some weapons, a clay pot and some fruits in a bowl…" he said and turned his gaze back to his hands.

Shizuo clenched his fists and hissed. "Not the _background._"

"You asked f-for it…" he tried.

"Don't even try going there." Shizuo grabbed the other by the neck and looked him in the eyes.

"Ah!" he exclaimed as the other grabbed him. He held Shizuo's wrist with both hands. "S-stop… Ne?"

"Just answer me." the blonde mumbled and let go of the raven-haired.

"I'm not very strong…" he started. "I don't know how to make weapons or clothes. I'm not a good hunter."

Shizuo kept silent and listened to the male speaking.

"I'm not good at making pots and such… And I can't build tents."

"Anything you _can _do?"

"I don't know" he shrugged. "Nothing special, ne?"

"You sound pretty worthless to me." the blonde raised a brow.

"Thanks…"

"You said it yourself."

Izaya shrugged in response. He really wasn't anything special.

* * *

Signe: Thanks for the reviews! :D Hope you'll like this chapter as well and remember to review to let us now what you think ;D  
Christine: Yes please~ :D


	3. Questions

"Can you cook?"

"A bit." he paused. "But I'm not that good at it."

"You better get used to it. Because you'll be the one cooking our meals." the blonde said.

"Why?" he asked slightly surprised. He would have thought a male at Shizuo's age would be able to cook good meals. Or at least eatable ones.

"I don't have time for it. Besides, I hate cooking, so you'll have to do it." Shizuo explained.

"Okay. But don't expect anything special, ne?"

"As long as it's eatable." he paused. "You might as well just get started."

"N-now?" he said, slightly surprised.

"Yes, now. I'm hungry."

[What a grumpy, _old _man…] Izaya thought. [Maybe he's not as nice as I thought…] He rose from the ground and went to the pots where there was a small unlit fire. "May I use this?" he asked pointing to a bowl. "And this." he added pointing to some unused wood he could use for the fire. The wood in the small fire was to no use anymore.

The blonde turned to look at what the young boy requested to use. "Yes, you can." he returned to his work, the same as before. "I don't have any meat at the moment, so you'll have to make something else."

"Okay… Hmm…" he found some berries. Strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and put them in a bowl. "Can I use this?" he asked holding up a stone to mash the berries with. He didn't look back at the blonde because he was a bit scared that the blonde would yell at him if he did anything wrong. And if that happened, he wouldn't want to see the blonde's expression.

"You can use any material which is there. It's a kitchen." Shizuo sighed.

"O-okay." he said and mashed the berries to mix them. Once he thought it was enough he washed the stone in a big clay bowl with water and dried it in some leather with fur. He looked through the bowls and found some flour. [I could make some bread…] With that, he put some fresh wood in the fire and lit it with help from straw and a small stick. Around the fire was four oblong stones stuck into the sand and on the ground lay a large stone plate which he put on top of the stones so that it was placed upon the fire.

Then Izaya took another bowl and took the flour from the other bowl which he put into the empty bowl. He applied some water as well. He then spread some olive oil on the stone plate to make sure the bread he was about to make wouldn't get stuck. He then washed his hands in the water from the big bowl and began mixing the water and flour with his hand. Once he felt it was enough he formed some breads and put them on the stone plate upon the fire. "Done." he mumbled to himself. "Now it just needs to bake…" he had made sure to make the breads small and flat so it wouldn't take too long before they were done.

"What are you making?" Shizuo asked curiously.

"Umm… Bread and some mixed berries to top it…" he said nervously. "Some kind of Wojapi."

"Hm? It's been a while since the last time I had that." Shizuo mumbled and examined a rock he held in his hands.

"Okay…" he mumbled. Great, now he had nothing to do. He just had to wait for the bread. He should have made the bread firstly so that he could make the mixed berries while the breads were baking. Oh well, it would take some time before it would be finished, so he might as well do something else. "Is there anything you want me to do?" he asked carefully.

"Clean up over here." Shizuo said as he continued to cut flakes of wood down onto the ground.

Izaya rose from the ground and went to Shizuo where he picked up the cut off flakes.

"You can put them in the fire."

He nodded and put the ones he had picked up into the fire, went back to Shizuo and did the same again and again.

"Good, when's the food done?" Shizuo suddenly asked, feeling extremely hungry.

"In a few more minutes." he said as he put some more flakes into the fire.

"I'm starving…"

"Sorry…"

The blonde chuckled. "No need to apologize."

"Okay." was the only reply Izaya gave him as he sat down before the stone plate and watched the bread. They would be done soon since they were pretty flat.

Shizuo put his working tools away and observed the young boy.

Izaya looked to both sides, until he found a long stone stick which he crawled to and then crawled back to the fire and poked the wood to make sure the fire wouldn't burn out.

"Feeling at home?"

Izaya tensed at the sudden question. Well, he didn't really feel at home… Shizuo had just told him he could use anything from the kitchen. And so he did. Izaya gently shook his head. He didn't want to anger the blonde, but he didn't feel like lying about it either. It was no big deal.

"Aha." Shizuo was sitting with crossed legs and had placed his elbow down on his thigh; his chin resting on the palm of his hand as he observed the raven-haired.

[I hope I didn't make him angry] he thought. "The bread is done."

"Good, take two of the small bowls and put the food on them. We'll eat from them." Shizuo said as he sat up straight.

Izaya only took one bowl and put the bread in them. He took the bowl with the bread and the bowl with the berries and went to the blonde. He put the bowls before him and sat down; looking down at his lap.

Shizuo inhaled the sweet scent of the Wojapi and smiled. He took one of the breads and broke it in half, examining it. He then dipped the first half into the berry mixture and tasted it.

[It's not like I poisoned it…] Izaya thought as he raised his head a bit to look at the blonde.

"Mm.. it's good." Shizuo chewed on it and swallowed. He nodded and dipped the bread into the berries again.

Izaya looked back down at his hands and nodded, feeling happy the blonde was content with the food so he wouldn't get yelled at.

"Eat.." the blonde mumbled.

Izaya hesitated but took some bread as well and dipped it into the mixed berries. He bit the bread and felt a bit more at home at the familiar taste.

"Don't you think it's good?" Shizuo asked, staring at the very quiet raven-haired.

Said raven-haired nodded and kept eating his bread quietly.

Shizuo too continued eating, still keeping an eye on the young boy though.

Izaya finished the first bread. He was still hungry but wasn't sure if he could take one more. He looked up slightly, seeing the blonde stare at him. "Umm… Did I do something wrong?" he asked carefully.

"I'm just curious about you." Shizuo took another bite of the bread.

"Why? D-does it matter?" he tried.

"If you're staying here with me it does matter."

Izaya looked down at the bread. He didn't want to talk about it. It wouldn't matter whether Shizuo knew or not. In his opinion, that is. Besides, he might miss his mother or sisters if he started to talk about them.

"Stop being so silent, you're pissing me off." Shizuo sighed.

The boy tensed. "Sorry."

"Talk."

"H-hello?" he said. He told him to talk. He didn't tell him _what _he should talk about.

"Stop being stupid." Shizuo snarled.

"Then stop snarling at me…" he said nervously.

"What?" Shizuo narrowed his eyes.

"N-nothing… What would you like t-to know?"

"Anything." Shizuo mumbled.

"I have two siblings… Two younger twin sisters." he forced out, looking at his lap.

"Aha.." Shizuo nodded.

"Yes… And a mother… And such… Ne?"

"A father too?"

"Sure…" he shrugged.

"Aha, what did you do for a living?"

"I was told to stay home…"

"Why is that?" Shizuo frowned.

"Because… All males in my family are and have always been hunters but since I suck at it I was told to stay home." he choked.

"'Suck at it', you say." Shizuo repeated those three words. "How can you 'suck at it'?" he asked.

"I'm too loud and can hardly catch a hare. I'm 'a useless hunter', as my father put it."

"Too loud? Are you joking? You never say a word." Shizuo mocked.

Izaya shrugged and looked the other way. He didn't find it funny at all.

"Why are you here then?" The blonde turned serious.

"Because someone from your tribe captured me."

"Why were you sent here in the first place?" Shizuo tried to ignore the annoying other's sarcastic remarks.

"I was told to…"

"Why?"

"Not sure… They needed someone to check out your tribe and my father suggested me." he said slightly sad.

"He suggested you?" the blonde questioned.

"Yes…"

"Well, explain." Shizuo made a motion with his hand, telling Izaya to continue.

"He suggested me since it had to be someone dispensable."

"Aha, so he didn't need you?"

"Apparently not… I guess he doesn't quite like me…"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing…" Izaya said in a mix of being angry and sad.

The blonde raised a brow. "Not going to tell me, huh?"

"I didn't do anything."

"Then why wouldn't your father like you?"

"Because I'm a bad hunter… I don't know… And I don't wanna talk about it…"

"Hm? Acting like a child, now?" the blonde said.

"Please stop… He doesn't like me and it's not like I enjoy that fact…"

"You can sleep on it and tell me tomorrow." Shizuo said as he rose from the ground. "But first you can clean up here."

Izaya was in a very bad mood now. Great. Just _great_. He took the bowls and washed them in the big bowl with water.

"I'll be back in a minute." with that Shizuo left the tent.

[Great opportunity to run away…] he thought as he cleaned the bowls. After cleaning one he would dry it off in the fur and stack them. "Done…" he said to himself and looked over his shoulder towards the leather skin that hang over the opening of the tent only too look back down at the now clean bowls. He could easily run out and hopefully get away. This 'Shizuo' he apparently had to live with was pretty rude in the end, and he didn't want to live with the guy… And especially not share a bed with him. But in the end, Izaya couldn't make himself do it… Even though the guy was rude and short tempered he didn't want to cause him trouble… After all, he had been nice at first and maybe Shizuo really was a sweet guy.

The blonde stepped in to the tent and sighed deeply. He yawned tiredly as he walked past Izaya. "Good you're done." he mumbled and sat down on his bed, which consisted of a fur blanket, fur rolled up into a pillow and some soft fur from wolves as the sheets. "Come here." Shizuo motioned him to come over.

Izaya rose from the ground and stood before Shizuo.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to run away." Shizuo looked up at the other.

Izaya shrugged. "I don't wanna cause trouble."

"So you do care about others?" he paused. "Sit." he patted the fur next to him.

"Of course I do…" he said and did as told, looking down at his hands.

"Even enemies?" the blonde raised a brow.

"Depends."

"Hm?"

"Depends on the situation, ne?" he said as he began fiddling with the material around his waist because he started feeling nervous.

"And what do you think of the situation you're in now, then?"

"I don't have a choice but to stay since I don't wanna cause you any trouble…"

"Well, well. You're thoughtful." the blonde chuckled.

[And there you go, all sweet again…] "Maybe."

"Or is it because you don't want to go back to your family?"

At that, the boy tensed for the 453rd time that day. He shrugged in reply.

"Such a childish answer." he paused. "It's getting late. You should go to bed."

"What about you?" he asked, turning his head slightly to look at the blonde. He seemed very tired.

"Don't worry about me. Lie down." he ordered.

Izaya unwillingly did as told. He felt bad for lying in Shizuo's bed but he knew he might as well just do as the blonde told him to.

Shizuo rose from the bed to go find a spare pillow. He found some soft rabbit fur and rolled it into a pillow. "You're sleeping on the inner side of the bed." Shizuo mumbled and placed his pillow on the wolf-fur sheets.

"Okay… I can take the spare pillow, ne?" he tried as he slid backwards, making room for Shizuo.

"No, just go to sleep." Shizuo lay down too, pulling the soft fur blanket over both their bodies.

"Goodnight.." Izaya said as he snuggled a bit into the unfamiliar fur. He was pretty tired since it had been quite a long and confusing day for him.

The blonde didn't answer; he turned his back towards Izaya and closed his eyes.

[And now he's cold again…]

* * *

Signe: Awww… I feel sorry for Izaya… But! The blonde _does _have a good side too! As you can see! :D Thanks for all the lovely reviews so far! They make us happy :D And as some of you might know (if you read CLH) Christine left for France yesterday! But I will update one more chapter of DW soon because we managed to get two chappies done before she left. Anyway, enjoy! ;D


	4. Eye Contact

Shizuo turned to lie on his side and wrinkled his nose. He inhaled the scent of newly baked bread. He slowly opened his eyes to see Izaya sitting at the stone plate, actually baking bread. The blonde sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Morning." he said with a rather hoarse voice.

"Ah, good morning." Izaya said, not turning to the blonde. He briefly wondered whether the blonde was in a good or bad mood this morning.

Shizuo stretched his body and rose from the bed. He immediately went over to Izaya and grabbed one of the smaller clay bowls and went over to the fresh drinking water to fill his bowl up. The blonde quickly gulped down all the water and let a sigh of relief leave his lips.

"Fresh?" he asked, trying to make a small conversation.

"Not really." Shizuo mumbled. "How about you?"

"Pretty much."

"Good, then you're up for a lot of working today, huh?" the blonde said as he sat down on the ground, crossing his legs.

"If that's what you want me to do.."

"You're not going to complain about it?" the blonde raised a brow. "You really are an odd person."

Izaya shrugged. He didn't really like being called odd or weird all the time. This guy really _was _annoying. But he had no choice but to stay…

"Is the breakfast ready yet?" Shizuo said.

"Yes… It should be done by now." he said and put the bread in a bowl.

"Good." the blonde stretched his back again, letting it say a few cracks before he relaxed again.

Izaya slightly flinched. "What was that?" he asked as he rose from the ground and approached the blonde, sitting down before him.

"What was what?" the blonde sighed.

"That sound…" he said as he put the bowl with the breads before the blonde. "It sounded strange."

"What are you talking about?" Shizuo frowned.

"It sounded like… Something cracked? I'm not sure… It just sounded weird…"

"Are you talking about my back?"

"Eh? Was that your back?" he said surprised, sounding slightly disgusted.

"Yes, that was my back. Is that a problem?"

"No… It was just weird, I guess…" he shrugged, trying not to anger the blonde.

"Well, you'll have to get used to it. It'll happen every day." the blonde chuckled and took one of the home baked breads and took a bite.

"Okay." he nodded, looking down at his hands. He never had eye contact with the blonde, except for that one time yesterday when he was forced to look at him.

"Eat, or you won't be able to work." the blonde ordered.

[At least decide whether you're mean or sweet…] he thought as he took one of the breads and began eating it.

They both ate in silence. The blonde stared at the other once in a while, feeling curious about the other male.

[I wonder what kind of work he'll make me do… If he makes weapons, it will be something that'll help him make them, won't it? Like finding the right material and cleaning up when he's done… I'm not sure…]

"You look like you're deep in thought." Shizuo suddenly said.

"Hm?" Izaya let out, raising his head to look at Shizuo by mistake. He quickly looked back down. "Umm… Yeah kinda…"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Work."

"Well, you're just going to stay in here and work." the blonde mumbled. "But I might take you for a walk so you can have a look around the place."

"Okay." he replied. He wanted to say that he would very much like to go for a walk, but he didn't wanna make the other angry.

"Firstly, you can clean up here, and then I'll show you how to make the bed." the blonde said as he rose from the ground to find his working tools.

Izaya did as told and quickly cleaned up while Shizuo found his tools. "Done." he said as he stood behind the tall blonde and looked down at the ground.

"Great." he rose from the ground and went over to the bed. He kneeled down before it and patted the ground next to him. "Watch."

Izaya sat down beside the blonde and did as told.

"Since this is wolf fur you have to brush it after sleeping on it or it will clump together in some places." the blonde pointed at the fur and ran his fingers through it. "Make sure to do it properly."

Izaya nodded and watched Shizuo's movements carefully, observing exactly how to do it so he wouldn't anger the blonde the next morning for doing it wrong.

"And after that, you straighten out the blanket and the pillows." he took his pillow and unrolled it and stroke it before he rolled it back up into a pillow. "You roll the pillows back up and then you let the blanket lie at the bottom of the fur bed, rolled up of course." he paused "Make sure to stroke the fur before rolling it up." the blonde said as he rose from the ground.

Izaya took the pillow he had slept with and stroke the fur only to roll it back up. He took the blanket, stroke it and rolled it up before laying it at the bottom of the bed.

"Good." he paused. "Don't you think wolf fur is great to sleep on?" the blonde asked out of the blue.

"It is." he agreed.

The blonde thought for a second but then spoke. "Come, I'll show you where to get fresh water from."

Izaya rose from the ground and Shizuo handed him a big pot so that they both had a clay pot in their hands.

Both males went out of the tent only to be greeted by bright sunlight. "Hmm.. looks like it's going to be hot today.." Shizuo mumbled. Children were already out playing and laughing, having fun. He sighed as he walked past some other tents when a little girl ran up to them. The blonde stopped and looked at her.

She was giggling and waved carefully at Izaya.

The blonde sent Izaya a glance and raised his brow.

Izaya couldn't help but send the cute girl a weak smile. Wow, that was the first time he had smiled since he got there. He held the pot with one hand and waved back at the girl. She really was cute. She reminded him a bit of his sisters. And he really loved them and enjoyed playing with them. Especially when they wanted to play soccer with him.

The little girl covered her mouth and started giggling. When she stopped she started fiddling with her clothing. "Who are you?" she asked with a bright smile on her face, about to giggle again.

Izaya sat the pot on the ground and kneeled before the girl. "I'm Izaya. And you?" he asked holding out a hand for the girl to shake.

The girl looked at the hand and then quickly touched it before she ran back to her other friends, giggling.

"Come on.." Shizuo sighed and walked ahead of Izaya.

Izaya took the pot again and ran to Shizuo, following the blonde close behind.

"You didn't have a tough time saying your name out this time, huh?"

"She was just a little girl…"

"And I'm just a guy." the blonde backfired.

"She reminded me of my sisters. It felt more natural." he admitted.

"Right." the blonde said as he walked through some tall grass. "It's over here." he said and kneeled down before a rather large lake.

He sat down beside the blonde and filled his pot with water.

"Fill it up as much as possible" Shizuo said and filled his pot up too, all the way up to the edge and Izaya did the same.

The blonde rose from the ground and walked through the tall grass. "Come on, Izaya. You're slow."

"And you're a grumpy old man." Izaya mumbled to himself and followed the blonde.

The blonde looked behind him and saw how Izaya lifted the pot. "The women here are stronger than you. Carry it properly!" Shizuo sighed.

"How?"

"Like I do." Shizuo said and lifted the pot with one arm. "Just rest it against your own body and use your other hand for support." he explained.

"Against your shoulder? Umm.." he rested the pot against his shoulder and tried to let go with one hand but failed. "It's… too heavy…"

"Try anyway. It's not that hard."

He tried again, but it really was too heavy. He couldn't lift the damn thing with only one arm. It wasn't his fault… He had just never been that strong. "I can't… I can't do it." he said sadly.

"You'll have to try, or you'll never be able to do it." he paused. "You want to be weaker than the women here?"

"I don't really care. And it won't matter as long as the job is done, ne?"

The blonde sighed in annoyance. "Just come on." he said and walked back to the tents. "Oh, and if you spill any of the water you're going back down there to refill the pot."

Izaya walked with the blonde but then stumbled over a stone and spilled some of the water. "Ah!" he exclaimed.

The blonde turned around and stared at Izaya. "Well, back down you go."

Izaya immediately turned around and headed for the lake. [What an ass…] he thought as he saw a woman by the lake. He kneeled down beside her and filled the pot again.

The blonde went back to his tent and placed the pot in a corner. He began working on his weapons immediately.

Meanwhile down at the lake, a woman watched Izaya refill the pot. "Why refill it when there was enough water in it?" she asked curiously.

The boy tensed at first. He hadn't thought the woman would actually talk to him. "I was told that if I spilled any I had to go down and refill it."

"Ah, that was rather mean." she smiled and kneeled down to fill her pot up too. She gave Izaya a weak smile.

Izaya turned his head and looked at the girl. She seemed nice. "Yeah. I think so too."

"Hm? You have special eyes, I see." she chuckled.

"Hm?" The other had dark blue eyes. Quite beautiful to be honest.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm very fond of eyes. They can be so colourful."

"No problem." he shrugged.

"But, you're that boy who came here yesterday. What's your name?"

"Izaya. What's yours?" he asked sending her a weak smile. She was actually quite pretty and she seemed his age too. Oh, but they had that marriage thing, so it probably wouldn't work out even if he started to like her.

"My name's Kara." she chuckled and looked away, blushing.

"Nice to meet you." he said holding out a hand for her to shake.

She looked at the hand and then up at Izaya. "Kara!" a woman called. The girl looked towards the woman, grabbed her pot and went towards her.

"Hm?" Izaya shrugged it off and went back to the tent, seeing Shizuo work on the weapon from yesterday.

"What took you so long?" the blonde asked, not even looking up from his work.

"Where do I put this?"

"Over there.." he pointed towards the pot he had placed there. "Don't avoid the question."

"I just talked to someone." he said and put the pot where Shizuo requested.

"You talked to som-" he was interrupted by a male entering the tent. "Shizuo, a word right now." the leader said and glared at Izaya.

* * *

Signe: What might the leader say? GASP!  
Christine: I'M BAAAACK~ AHAHAHA! :D


	5. Unacceptable

Izaya turned his focus to the ground when he saw the male that entered and began fiddling with the leather around his waist. What was that all about anyway? He hadn't done anything wrong… Had he?

The blonde followed the other male out of the tent. The leader turned around to face Shizuo. "That boy had eye contact with another girl." he hissed. The blonde blinked in confusion. "You will punish him right now, or I shall do it for you!" he continued. "Just because he's a stranger, doesn't mean he can ignore our rules!" he growled, making Shizuo nod in silence.

"I'll take care of it." Shizuo mumbled, head bowed. He felt ashamed of what Izaya had done, and now everyone could see him get scolded because of what another person had done. He felt angry.

"Oh, yes you will. I will not tolerate that kind of behaviour!"

"I'm sorry.. he didn't kno-"

"Don't you dare try to defend him!" he hissed.

Shizuo shook his head and kept his head bowed. The leader nodded and returned to his tent. The blonde quickly looked around see everyone was staring at him. He sighed as he made his way back into the tent, where Izaya was sitting and fiddling with his leather clothing.

The raven-haired was nervous, though he didn't think he had done anything wrong. Maybe spilling water in the camp was considered a crime?

Shizuo approached Izaya and looked down at him.

Izaya hesitantly looked up at the angry blonde. [D-did I do something to anger him?] he thought nervously.

With a swift movement Shizuo struck Izaya's cheek with the back of his hand, making the younger boy fall down to his side. The blonde was furious and he was sure that Izaya could feel that from the hit.

"Hn!" He exclaimed as he was suddenly hit. He had no idea why he was hit and it took him by surprise. He held a hand on his hurt cheek and rested his weight on his left elbow, turning his head to look at the blonde. Izaya's body shook lightly from the surprise and he had a few tears in his eyes. That hurt. That _really _hurt. Not his cheek. Well, his cheek too, but it hurt him inside. Why was he hit? He really didn't get it!

"Get up!" Shizuo ordered, looking Izaya in the eyes.

Izaya was too stunned to move. He even forgot how to move his own body for a moment.

The blonde kneeled down and pulled Izaya up to sit. "You know why you were hit?" Shizuo asked, tightening his grip on the other's arm.

Izaya lightly shook his head.

"Never, _ever _have eye contact with a girl." Shizuo said. He started to calm down when seeing Izaya like that.

Izaya nodded lightly. He didn't understand why he couldn't have eye contact with girls though. Why was that such a big problem? And then where was he supposed to look? At her nose?

"That was embarrassing for me." he said a bit more calm.

"I'm sorry." he said, voice shaking and filled with a mix of being nervous, sad and confused.

"You should be!" the blonde paused. "It's my fault too.. I didn't tell you." he admitted.

"Umm.." he let out, not sure what to say or do.

The blonde sighed. "I'm sorry but I had to"

"Sure…" he squeezed out. [I would have understood it if you had just told me… There was no reason to hit me]

"Or would you rather have our leader do something ten times worse than I did?"

"No… Does it matter? He should have killed me when I got here anyway." he choked, feeling how a tear ran down his cheek.

The blonde couldn't help but smile at the other. "Don't be like that.."

"But it's the truth. And I still don't get it."

"You don't need to understand everything."

"It's just weird." Another tear ran down his face. Normally he would have felt ashamed he cried, even if just a little. But right there he didn't give a damn.

"Stop crying.." Shizuo frowned. "You're acting like a six year old girl." he wiped the tears away from Izaya's face.

"Just leave me alone… It's not like you care anyway." Even though he didn't want to anger the other, he didn't need him to keep telling him things like he's a child. And especially not a girl…

"No, I don't care. And I didn't want you here in the first place.. but I'm keeping up with you and you better start respecting me as well. Neither of us want this and I don't want to keep lecturing you," Shizuo paused. "But that's what I was forced to do, so I'll do it. I'm not asking what or why, I just do it. You better start doing the same."

"I did respect you.. But you're so mean now." he let out. "May I go outside alone? Please…"

Shizuo kept quiet for a while. "Running away isn't the smartest move right now."

"I'm not gonna run away… I don't wanna cause you trouble…"

"You just did."

"Not on purpose… I didn't know you had a rule like that. How should I know? I've never been here before."

Shizuo looked at the raven-haired. "I want to make sure. Give me that leather strap you wear around your ankle."

"No." he said determined and put a hand over it.

"Then you won't be going outside on your own."

Izaya hesitated for awhile, taking his time to think it over. He needed to go outside and just be alone. Knowing he had to, he slowly pulled the piece of leather off his ankle and handed it to the blonde. "Please take good care of it, ne?"

"Of course. You can go now." Shizuo nodded towards the door. "Be home before the sun sets."

Izaya ran out of the tent and into the woods. He began walking instead of running when he could hardly see the tents anymore. He sat down and leaned back against a tree, looking around, taking in the surroundings. "Might as well find something for dinner." he said to himself. After sitting there for a while he rose from his spot and searched for fruits and berries. He found an apple tree and plucked four apples. He figured he could use them for dinner or something. "Ah, strawberries! I'll need something to carry all this back to the camp…" he thought for a second and noticed a plant with huge, nearly round leaves. He plucked one and put the apples there. He folded the ends and held onto it like some sort of bag.

"Good." he told himself and took it over to the strawberries where he let the leaf open and put on the strawberries he plucked off. Continuing his walk, he found some blueberries, raspberries and peaches. "This must be enough…" he told himself and took the quite heavy leaf in his hands and began walking back to the camp. The sun hadn't set yet, so he still had time.

With that, Izaya went into the tent where Shizuo was sitting, _still _working. Did the guy ever take a break? Probably not…

"Back already?" the blonde asked, looking at his newly made knife.

"Yes… The sun is about to set." he said as he went to the kitchen where he laid the closed leaf. He took a straw and bound the leaf at the top so it wouldn't open up.

"Alright. Where did you go?"

"Into the woods. May I have my leather strap back?" he asked as he sat down beside the blonde.

Shizuo handed Izaya his precious leather strap. "Why is it so important to you?"

Izaya gladly took it back and put it back on his ankle. "My grandmother made it for me."

"Hm? Did she pass away?"

"Yes."

"I'm guessing you liked her?"

"I did. A lot."

"How come?" Shizuo kept asking. After all he was rather curious about this boy.

"She cared for me."

"I see." he nodded.

"She was so nice, really. Everyone in our tribe liked her." He explained, suddenly feeling like talking about it. "She would always be there with comforting words or a comforting hug whenever I failed to catch anything while hunting."

"Hm? So talkative all of a sudden." the blonde chuckled.

"Guess so. I don't mind talking about my grandmother."

"Then tell me."

"Eh?" he questioned, looking at the blonde.

"Talk. Tell me about you."

"I already did. I… Would it be alright if I went out for a minute or two?"

"Again?"

"Yes, please."

"If I say no?" Shizuo raised a brow and kept an eye on Izaya.

When their eyes met, Izaya looked back down at the ground. "Then it's a no, and I'll stay here."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. But I would like to go apologize to the girl." Izaya explained.

"It's probably best not to go talk to her right now," he paused. "Her parents, or worse, her future husband might get furious." the blonde frowned. "What exactly did you do?"

"She talked to me and I answered. Then we looked each other in the eyes."

"She talked to you?"

"Yes. By the lake, when I was getting water."

"She _talked _to you?" the blonde repeated.

"Yes…"

"That's odd."

"Why?"

"Because you're a stranger, an outsider.." the blonde explained. "Even that little girl today.." he frowned. "But since you got to see her eyes.. what were they like?"

"Blue… Quite beautiful, actually. But why shouldn't the little girl talk to me? She was just curious."

"I guess you're right. But still.." he mumbled. "Lucky bastard." he said afterwards.

"Lucky?"

"You got to see her eyes before her future husband did."

"Whoops…"

"Or maybe you're not so lucky." Shizuo corrected.

"Because I'm in trouble?"

"Who knows what he might do."

"Then he'll beat me up and then that must be it… Umm.. Have you ever thought about being with a woman?" he asked both curious and in the need of changing the subject.

Shizuo froze. "What kind of a question is that?"

"You said you wouldn't be able to get a wife… So, umm.. I'm just curious, ne?"

The blonde looked at the other. "I've… thought about it before, yes"

"So you would like to be with one?"

"Of course.." he paused. "But that's never going to happen."

"That's… Sad… Ne? It's not really fair."

"That's how it is. I already told you."

"But don't you think it's unfair?"

"It is. But I'm not allowed to share my thoughts upon that. Just leave it."

"Okay. I won't tell anyone."

"Even if you told anyone, they wouldn't listen."

"Because I'm a stranger?"

"That too." Shizuo forced a smile on his lips.

"Why else?"

"As I said before. It's my opinion, so no one really cares."

"Because it's _you_, or because of your position regarding marriage?"

"I don't know and it doesn't matter. I've grown up with this so I'm not going to change it."

"It's still unfair…"

"Just leave it!" Shizuo hissed, feeling a bit annoyed that this _stranger _continued to question their rules.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry about it. You're like me anyway."

"Like you?"

"You don't have a chance to be with a woman either."

* * *

Christine: Please review and tell us what you think! It's kinda important for us!


	6. Grapes

Izaya was heading for the forest after leaving his precious leather strap in Shizuo's care. It had been a few days since Shizuo had hit him and they had had their little talk about marriage. Izaya had been thinking about the fact that Shizuo never would be able to get a wife. To have... sex. And Izaya actually felt sorry for the guy. Though, Izaya knew he was in the same position since he had to stay there, but maybe they would let him go after a few years or so. Still, Izaya found it brave and kinda amazing that Shizuo just took it all as a man. Oh well, he was _very _manly and strong looking. Weird any of the women hadn't protested and said they wanted to marry the blonde instead. But on the other hand, Izaya hadn't really seen any of the men in the tribe, since Shizuo hadn't let him walk around the camp yet because the blonde didn't have time and he wouldn't let him go on his own the first time. That's at least what he had told Izaya. But for now, he walked into the woods to find some fruits. And lucky for him, he quickly spotted some strawberry plants on the ground and sat down before them, gathering some in a giant leaf.

"You're early out." a girl giggled.

"Hm?" Izaya turned his head and found himself looking at a set of knees. As he recognized the voice to be female, he decided not to look at her any further upwards as to not look her in the eyes like Shizuo had said he shouldn't. "Oh, hello." he said, feeling slightly nervous, as he turned around and continued finding some good strawberries. "I'm sorry about what happened the other day." he started.

She giggled a bit more. "How sweet of you. But how could you know about that. Everyone makes mistakes." Kara said as she kneeled down beside Izaya to look at the strawberries.

"I'm still sorry, ne?" Not like he didn't agree with her. Because he did. But he felt he shouldn't tell her his thought on it.

"Don't worry about it. But I will miss seeing those red, crimson eyes of yours." she smiled as she turned to look at Izaya's cheek, wanting him to look back at her.

Izaya was surprised at the sudden move and dropped the few strawberries he had in his hands. He didn't look at her. He just looked the other way. If he looked at her, her mother would be mad, her husband too, the leader and most importantly, Shizuo would be mad... He really didn't wanna cause the blonde trouble and he didn't want to be hit again. And especially not now when they were getting along somehow alright. [What is this girl thinking?] He thought. Why would she want him to look her in the eyes if she knew it wasn't allowed?

Kara let her fingers gently touch Izaya's cheek. She let them run down to his neck and then onto his shoulder. "Come on. Let me see them." she insisted, gently tugging at Izaya's shoulder.

He couldn't figure out whether he liked the gentle touch or not. Somehow it felt comforting after what he had been through the last couple of days, with everything being new to him. He had to wake up extra early in the morning, cook breakfast, clean up after breakfast, do the bed, get water, clean up for Shizuo as he worked, cook lunch, clean up after lunch, maybe get some fruits or just clean up for Shizuo. And then late in the night he would go to bed only to get up early the next day. Everything he wasn't used to. He was used to get up pretty early, but not _that _early and he wouldn't go to bed that late either. And through the day he would help his mother and sisters do some chores. But since they were three at doing them, there was never much to do. And now, suddenly there was a whole lot to do. Izaya had to admit it was hard to get used to.

The girl crawled closer to Izaya, letting her hand slide across Izaya's upper back and over to his other shoulder. "Come on." she whispered. Her other hand was placed on his chin, gently stroking it with her thumb.

[Stop doing that.. Please...] he pleaded in his mind as the gentle touches actually felt... good. But he was determined that he wouldn't look at the persistent girl and simply looked the other way.

"It's only us.. no one will notice." she whispered in his ear.

Izaya didn't look at her. No way he would! Or could. [Hm?] He thought. That smell... Was it her? Oh god, it was. She smelled good. Girly. Just like his sisters had smelled good, this girl did too, the odour was just different.

"Izaya-san?" Kara whispered teasingly.

"Y-yes?" he let out. [Wait... Izaya-_san_? Wha-?]

"Look at me." she ran her index finger over his lips and across his cheek.

"I can't. And I wont, ne?" he said nervously.

"Of course you can. I won't tell anyone."

"I.. I really can't."

"Why not?" she pouted, still drawing circles on his cheek with her index finger.

"Because it's against the rules."

"But you're an outsider. You shouldn't care about the rules. Do as you please."

"I wont. I play by the rules just like everyone else, n-ne?"

"Are you afraid of Shizuo being mad at you again?" the girl smiled as he hand slowly went down to Izaya's chest.

Izaya's heart was beating faster than normally and he prayed she wouldn't notice. "No."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Because. I want to play by the rules..." God, he was nervous.

Kara smiled to herself. "It's rude to ignore a lady." she suddenly said.

"I'm not ignoring you.. I'm simply following the r-rules."

"But you're ignoring my request." she said as she started stroking the raven's chest.

"I can't do it. Sorry."

Kara softy sighed as she removed her hand from the nervous boy's chest. She gently rose from the ground. "And here I thought you were special."

"I'm not." he mumbled and returned to the strawberries with slightly shaking hands.

Kara immediately changed the subject. "What do you think about my clothes, Izaya-san? Aren't they just lovely?" she smiled.

Izaya tensed but looked over his shoulder to look at her clothes and nothing more. "Yes. They are." he answered and rose from the ground, walking further into the woods. [What's wrong with her?]

"But don't you think they show too much skin here?" she looked down at her breasts, which were just barely covered. She fiddled with her white rough clothing, which covered her entire body and was held in place by a dark leather strap around her waist. It was low-necked in the front, showing her cleavage. She followed the raven-haired into the woods.

Izaya briefly looked over his shoulder. "It looks fine." he said continuing into the woods. He then noticed a strange looking plant and recognized it to be grapes.

"Hm? You don't mind looking at my breasts but you do mind looking me in the eyes?" Kara smirked.

"I didn't look at them. I looked at your clothing..." he tried, feeling embarrassed. But it was the truth. She had asked him to look and he did.

"But you did look. Maybe I should tell my mother that you're only after my body?" she raised a brow.

Izaya stopped dead in his tracks. After her body? He wasn't even after her to begin with! "I'm n-not after you... Not that you're not pretty, but you're gonna be married. And I'm not l-looking for a girlfriend either." he stuttered. What a bitch.

"Oh, so Shizuo did tell you about that, huh? But all I'm asking for is a quick eye-contact." she smiled. "Consider it as a wedding gift from you to me."

"I can't." he said and went to the grapes. He put down his leaf and plucked five clusters. The leaf couldn't bear much more.

"How disappointing."

Izaya shrugged and picked up the leaf, holding all the ends at the bottom to prevent the fruits from falling off. He looked around a bit and noticed an apple tree. [I guess we're almost out of apples].

The girl was silent for a while. "I'll see you at my wedding then." she said as she turned around to go back to the camp.

Izaya sighed as she had finally left and felt he could relax a bit more. "Ah, guess I have to go home soon, or Shizuo will be mad at me..." he told himself and plucked a few apples before heading back to the tent. "Strap." Izaya mumbled as he entered the tent and put the fruit filled leaf down on the ground in the kitchen.

"Lost it." Shizuo mumbled as he continued with his work.

"What?" Izaya exclaimed without meaning to. His eyes went wide and he went to Shizuo and looked him directly in the eyes. "Where is it!" he demanded more than asking.

"I guess it really is special to you, hm?" the blonde looked back at crimson eyes. "It's over there." he pointed towards the bed.

Izaya went to the bed where he sat down and picked up the strap, hugging it to his cheek. "That wasn't funny.."

"I was just testing you," he paused. "And don't start yelling at me. You can't win at that."

"S-sorry..." he apologized. He hadn't meant to yell at him but when he told him the strap was missing he just freaked out.

"Damn right." the blonde rose from the ground and went over to the giant leaf Izaya had left near the clay pots. "What did you find?"

"Strawberries, apples and grapes."

"Grapes?" Shizuo frowned.

"Yes." he put the leather strap around his ankle and watched Shizuo.

"Aha.. I haven't seen any grape plants around here before."

"I found one. In the woods. I didn't run off..."

"You must have gone far out though."

"Maybe. I'm not sure. I just walked."

"Must have been lonely then." Shizuo smiled.

"No. That girl from before followed." he said, debating in his head whether he should tell Shizuo what had happened or not.

The blonde furrowed his brows. "She followed?"

"Yes. I don't know why. We talked a bit. But don't worry, I didn't look her in the eyes." he assured him. He figured he better not tell Shizuo what had happened. He would just be furious.

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened. She just talked to me. I think she's looking forward to her wedding."

"Izaya."

"Y-yes?"

"I will ask again, and you will tell me. What happened?"

"She talked about her wedding." he tried again.

The blonde kneeled down before the raven, sending him an angry glance.

Izaya looked away from the dangerous eyes. He still had a bit of a problem keeping eye contact with the blonde and when he made such a scary face it was pretty much impossible.

"Tell me what happened. Don't you dare lie to me." Shizuo grabbed Izaya's chin and forced him to look at the blonde.

"Umm... S-she tried to make me l-look her in the eyes.. But I didn't do it.." he choked.

Shizuo sighed in relief.

"Eh?" Izaya let out nervously.

"I guess she did that because you're the weak one here.." Shizuo mumbled.

"The weak one?"

"Just stay away from her.. or any other women."

"Okay..."

* * *

Signe: Thanks for the reviews so far. Keep reviewing and we'll keep updating! ^^  
Christine: Yup! Thank you soo much :3


	7. Grape Juice

It was getting late and the sun had already set. Shizuo had said he had some business and had left the tent while Izaya made dinner. While the bread was baking he thought he might as well try and see what he could make of those grapes. He took a bowl and plucked a whole cluster, putting the grapes in the bowl. "Hmm.." He looked at the stone he had used to smash the other vegetables and thought he would try that. He mashed the grapes and felt a bit confused as to why there weren't any seeds in them. "Lucky?" he questioned. The grapes made a thin liquid in the end, but he had to take out the peel of the grapes which still lay in the liquid. After that, he had something that looked like water, though it was green. "Interesting..." he put the bowl to his mouth and tasted it. His eyes went wide as he drank a mouthful. It tasted amazingly good!

Shizuo sighed as he entered the tent. He scratched the back of his head and glared at Izaya. "What are you doing?"

"Look, look!" he exclaimed happily and ran to Shizuo, shoving the bowl in his face.

"What?" the blonde frowned and gently pushed the other's hands away.

"See! Try this! It's really good!"

"Calm down, boy." Shizuo sighed as he took the bowl from Izaya's hand and brought it to his nose to inhale the sweet scent. "What is it?"

"Just try it, ne?" he smiled happily. That was probably the first time the blonde had seen his true smile.

Shizuo sipped on it and frowned before drinking some more. "It's.. actually good."

"See!" he said happily.

"What is it?" Shizuo asked again.

"Grapes!"

"Grapes? Really?" the blonde raised a brow. "It's good.." he murmured as he looked down at the drink.

"Yeah! I gotta go find some more! We don't have that many." he told him.

"The sun has already set.. It's too late to be wandering around out there now." Shizuo mumbled.

"But.."

"You'll have to wait 'til tomorrow.." the blonde placed a calming hand on the other's shoulder as he passed him.

Izaya was a bit shocked that Shizuo was being all calm and trying to calm the excited Izaya down. "Okay." he replied and followed the blonde close behind.

"Do you mind if I drink the rest?" Shizuo asked.

Izaya hesitated for a bit since he liked it a lot too. "No."

"Hm?" Shizuo turned around to meet crimson eyes.

"No. I don't mind."

"Okay then." Shizuo quickly drank the rest of it and handed Izaya the bowl. "Good job" he sent Izaya a weak smile.

Without knowing why, Izaya blushed lightly at the welcoming smile. "Y-you're welcome."

Shizuo stretched his arms and sat down to begin eating his dinner. Izaya went to wash the bowl in his hands before turning to Shizuo and sit down before him. There was a deep silence between the two of them as they ate their dinner.

Izaya didn't eat all that much like usual but made sure he got some. He glanced at Shizuo, as he thought about the whole marriage thing again. Poor guy... Shizuo definitely wanted to be with some girl.

"What're you thinking about?"

Why didn't Shizuo just run away? It's not like someone else couldn't make weapons instead. Shizuo could just teach them.

"Oi.. Izaya." Shizuo snapped his fingers in front of the young boy's face.

"E-eh?" he blinked, confused.

"What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing?"

Shizuo raised a brow in disbelief.

"So... Umm... Is the food alright?"

Shizuo nodded, he didn't speak because his mouth was full.

"Okay.. I'm glad."

The blonde swallowed and rose from the ground. "Thanks for the food. I'm going to bed, so stay quiet when you finish up here, okay?" Shizuo yawned and walked to the bed.

[I'm tired too, you know...] "Yes." he replied and picked up the bowls and stone plates as he went to wash them.

Shizuo lay down on the soft wolf fur and unrolled the blanket to cover himself with it. "Mm.." he snuggled his face into the soft fur pillow.

Izaya glanced over his shoulder to see the blonde snuggle up in the covers. Kinda cute. Oh well, he continued with the dishes and quickly finished up, rubbing his eyes.

A sigh left the already sleeping blonde as he rolled over to lie on his back.

[Ah, sleeping already..] He yawned and approached the bed. [How am I gonna do this without waking him... He'll be furious if he wakes up..] Izaya thought nervously. [I guess I could just step over him?] Izaya did so and carefully laid down beside the sleeping blonde, crawling under the covers and keeping as long a distance as possible.

Shizuo was far away in dreamland, so he didn't even notice Izaya moving around.

"Good night, Shizuo." Izaya whispered as he quickly dozed off.

* * *

Shizuo woke up the next morning, lying on his side. It was still a bit dark. He rapidly blinked his eyes to look around. Izaya wasn't up yet either. The blonde froze as felt something lie over his upper body. He looked down to see an arm lying lazily over him. Shizuo turned his head a bit to see Izaya laying a bit too close to him. He smuggled his arm out from under the warm fur blanket to remove Izaya's arm.

"Nn.." Izaya mumbled and tightened his grip around Shizuo.

Shizuo's eye started twitching and he sat up. He looked down at the sleeping raven; his arm still holding onto Shizuo.

"Mm..." he moved a bit closer to the warm body and lay on Shizuo's pillow instead of his own.

"Izaya." he mumbled.

"Nn."

Shizuo couldn't help but smile a bit at the sleeping boy. He softly placed a hand in Izaya's hair and began to nuzzle it.

"Mmm." the raven purred as a small smile tugged his lips.

"Oi.. It's time to wake up." Shizuo said, as he figured he couldn't let himself do that. It was just wrong, right?

"Mm?" he had furrowed his brows when the other talked but soon relaxed again.

"Izaya."

"Noouu.." he whined softly. "Not now, Mairu.."

"M-Mairu?" the blonde frowned. The raven kept still. "Oi!" Shizuo shook the raven, hoping he'd wake up.

"Ah, Ah, stop!" he whined and quickly sat op. "It's not funny Mairu." he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

"I'm not Mairu." Shizuo said, feeling grumpy.

"Hm?" Izaya opened his eyes and stared at Shizuo for awhile. In silence. "S-sorry!" he suddenly exclaimed, blushing. The blonde sighed. Izaya then quickly rose from the bed and went to make breakfast.

"Oi.." Shizuo frowned.

"Y-yes?"

"What was that?"

"W-what?"

"Who's Mairu?"

Izaya stopped his movements, body tense. "My sister."

"Your sister?"

"Yes..." he nodded and continued with the breakfast.

"You miss her?" Izaya nodded silently. "Aha.." Shizuo approached the raven, bent down and untied the leather strap from Izaya's ankle. "Go get some of those grapes..." he mumbled.

"Mm." he nodded and left the food he was preparing. He went out of the tent and into the woods. It was quite a long walk to get there, but once there he plucked five clusters which he held in his arms and sighed as he began walking back to the camp. The moment he had left the tent, memories from Izaya's tribe brushed him. The times he had played with the leather ball with his sisters. The times he had cooked with his mother. The times he.. had failed and got scolded by his father for not being good enough at hunting... The times his grandmother had comforted him. His grandmother's funeral... Maybe it wasn't all that bad to stay with Shizuo. But he missed his mother and sisters, Mairu and Kururi. After the long walk home he entered the tent again.

"Got enough there to make two drinks?" Shizuo asked.

"I think so... There wasn't much yesterday because I only used one bunch. I've got five more here, and four from yesterday." he explained and sat down in the kitchen. "What about breakfast? Did you eat something?"

"No."

"I was out for awhile... I'll continue what I started." he said and did so.

"No." Shizuo grabbed Izaya's wrist.

"E-eh?"

"I don't want that.."

"Then.. what?" he asked as he turned his head to look at the blonde.

"Grapes.." he mumbled and tied the strap back onto Izaya's ankle.

Izaya looked down at his ankle as Shizuo put the strap back. "Okay."

Shizuo brushed his hand against Izaya's leg as he pulled his hand away. "There.." he smiled up at the other.

Izaya blushed slightly at the touch. "Thank you."

The blonde crawled over to his tools and found an oblong rock and started to roughly cut tiny flakes of stone off. He knew it would take forever to make it into a knife.

Izaya began making the grape liquid as he had made it the day before. In the middle of it he glanced over his shoulder, seeing Shizuo work. Nothing new there. He went back to the grapes and mashed them. He had used three bunches this time and left the bowl almost full. He then prepared another one with also three bunches and mashed them too. When they were mashed, he picked out the skin of the grapes and went to Shizuo with both bowls. "Here." he said and sat down, handing one bowl to Shizuo.

"Ah, thanks.." Shizuo placed the rocks on the ground and took one of the bowls. Izaya watched as Shizuo brought the bowl to his lips and took a sip. "What's wrong, Izaya?" Shizuo asked, still looking at his bowl.

"N-nothing." he blushed slightly, hoping the other wouldn't notice, as he took a sip of the other bowl.

The blonde quickly downed the grape-juice and placed the bowl away from him. "As good as it was yesterday." he mumbled.

"I'm glad." Izaya drank about a third of his and placed the bowl before the blonde.

"Hm?"

"You're welcome." he simply said and left Shizuo to make breakfast. Or rather lunch.

Shizuo's eye twitched as he looked down at the bowl, which still contained some of the liquid. "Izaya..."

"Yes?"

"When.. you give a drink, which you've already taken a sip of, and give it to another person.. that means you just confessed your love to that person." Shizuo growled out as he glared at the bowl, fists clenched.

Izaya tensed. "Wha-?"

"You... heard me."

"S-sorry.. I didn't know that..."

Shizuo gulped and shook his head. "Of course you didn't." he murmured.

"I'm sorry. I'll take it back then." he said nervously and rose from the ground, approaching Shizuo. He thought he better not tell Shizuo that they had drunk from the same bowl the day before. Shizuo sighed. "Unless you want it? I mean.. You know I didn't mean anything by giving it to you, ne?"

"Even though that's tempting, I can't." Shizuo said as he began working again.

"I.. I understand." was all Izaya said and took the bowl with him to the kitchen.

[I hope that boy didn't mean anything by it.] Shizuo thought as he looked over his shoulder, seeing Izaya clean the bowls.

Izaya then continued with the breakfast which was now lunch and was almost done. "Lunch is ready." he mumbled and went to Shizuo with two food-filled bowls. He went back and got two more bowls, one with the grape liquid Izaya still hadn't drunk and one with some new, he had made for Shizuo.

Shizuo coughed as he turned around to take the bowl of food and began to eat. "I'm thinking about going out to look for some meat today." Shizuo mumbled.

"Sounds good." he paused. "What do you want me to do?"

"Come along."


	8. Hunting

"Eh?" Izaya paused. "Umm.. I might ruin it." he said after a rather long pause, keeping focus on his hands as he ate.

"Well. Think of it like this. If you don't pull yourself together and catch something, there might not be any dinner for you tonight." the blonde shrugged, challenging the younger male.

That. Hurt. "I guess I can go without dinner.."

"Don't tell me you're already giving up? You haven't even tried."

"I have."

"Not around here."

"It's the same sh-.. thing."

"Were you about to swear just now?" the blonde raised a brow.

"N-no.."

"Tch. It doesn't matter. You're joining me and you will catch something, you hear me?"

"What if I don't?"

"Of course you will catch something."

"I can't... I already told you.. And I don't find it very funny to be scolded and yelled at for not being able to." he let out.

"I won't scold you."

"Of course you won't. I've heard that before, you know?"

"Idiot. It's your own fault if you don't catch anything. I'll just be eating in front of you."

"Then do that."

"Don't be stubborn."

"I'm not. I'm telling you I can't hunt. So I'm not doing it. I don't mind coming with you and help you but I'm not taking the disappointment of not catching anything with an angry father ready to yell at me the moment the animal runs, okay?" the raven let out, squeezing his eyes tightly, fists clenched. He couldn't think clearly and was talking to the blonde like it was his grandmother who had tried to encourage him to go out and try again many times before her death.

"I'm not your father!" Shizuo yelled back at Izaya.

"It doesn't matter! I don't want to do it!" he yelled back, tears threatening to spill.

"Of course it matters! Don't fucking mistaken me for your father!" Shizuo yelled as he rose from the ground, glaring down at the other.

"You get angry so easily that you'll probably just yell at me or hit me!" he spat out. "Please... Don't make me do it..." he said more calmly.

"Pull yourself together, boy!" Shizuo growled. "I already told you. It's your own fault if you don't catch anything! I couldn't give a shit if you caught anything or not." he hissed. "I'm trying to help you."

"You're not helping." he let out, head bowed.

Shizuo kneeled down before Izaya. "You want to go back to your tribe and show your father that you are capable of something?" he hissed.

"I'm stuck here." he said, not bothering to turn to look at the blonde.

"Stubborn." Shizuo mumbled and rose from the ground again. "Eat your food." he ordered as he went past him to make the bed.

"I can make the bed." he mumbled.

"Eat your food." the blonde repeated angrily.

Izaya looked at the food in his bowl but he wasn't the least hungry. Though, he knew the blonde would probably kill him if he didn't eat something. And so he did.

Shizuo went back to Izaya and took his food bowl and placed it near the pot with water. He grabbed the other bowl with the grape juice and drank it all.

Izaya felt like he couldn't eat anymore but drank the rest of his grape juice and took both bowls to the water pot. He began cleaning the bowls.

In the meantime, Shizuo started gathering tiny weapons like sharp rocks, which looked like blades, and knives made out of rocks, which he had hand-made. He carried them all in a leather sack which he hung over his shoulder. "Are you ready?" he looked back at Izaya.

Izaya didn't want to go. Oh, hell he didn't. The blonde would probably yell at him. He knew he would. But, Izaya stood from the ground and nodded.

Shizuo stepped out of the tent and stopped immediately as he saw how many people from the clan stared at him. They had heard his and Izaya's little fight. He sighed as he exited their camp. Izaya followed close behind the blonde, trying his best to ignore the stares.

The blonde walked through the tall withered grass without looking back at Izaya. He held onto the leather strap over his shoulder as if it would run away.

"I'm sorry for yelling..." Izaya suddenly said, breaking the tense silence.

"Whatever.." Shizuo stopped to look around, but then continued to walk short after.

"I really am.."

"Shh!" Shizuo hissed as he stopped walking again. Izaya stopped as well. Shizuo continued walking, heading over towards the woods.

Izaya simply followed, until he spotted a deer and grabbed Shizuo's shoulder, pushing him down as he too sat down in the tall grass in the wood.

"Finally you spotted it." Shizuo whispered, a smirk on his lips.

Izaya quickly put a hand over the blonde's mouth and watched the animal intensely, completely ignoring the blonde's words.

[Well, he knows how to act...] the blonde thought as he relaxed.

Too busy watching the animal; Izaya paid no attention to where he placed his hand as he laid it on Shizuo's thigh, a little too close to his crotch to Shizuo's liking.

Shizuo quickly wrapped his fingers around Izaya's wrist and removed his hand. He short after pushed the hand, covering his mouth, away too. He scowled at the younger boy.

Izaya then quickly turned to Shizuo. "Shh." he whispered as he put his index finger before his mouth, unsure what Shizuo suddenly was angry about.

Shizuo said a silent 'what the hell?' and frowned at Izaya.

Now Izaya was confused. But instead of asking, he placed a hand on the blonde's knee to support his weight as he leaned up close to the blonde's ear and whispered, "It's all yours."

Shizuo rolled his eyes and carefully slipped away from Izaya. He smuggled his hand down into the leather sack and brought out two sharp rocks, which he weighed in his hands. He glared at the animal and crawled deeper into tall grass, nearing the animal.

Izaya kept still, watching Shizuo in action.

The blonde aimed for the deer's throat, and as he thought he could hit he threw the rocks towards the animal, slicing it's trachea. The animal ran a few meters but only to fall down onto the ground. The blonde sighed as he approached the animal, looking around if there were any other deers around. He kneeled down beside the animal and examined it.

"He got it..." Izaya mumbled as he laid himself down in the grass, looking up at the clouds in the sky. He had to admit he envied Shizuo a bit for doing it that easily.

Shizuo quickly grabbed his knife and began cutting through the skin. "Izaya!" he called out.

Izaya's body jumped in surprise as he got on his feet and ran towards the blonde.

"Go find some leaves or something. They don't have to be big." Shizuo ordered as he continued to cut out the meat. "Make it quick. I don't want any wild animals to pick up the scent of blood."

Izaya ran off further into the woods and quickly found what he was told to find and ran back to Shizuo with the leaves. "Here."

"Good, now pack the meat up in them." he said as he placed a piece of meat in one of the leaves.

Izaya did as told.

It took a couple of minutes before they managed to pack all the meat into the leaves and there was pretty much blood everywhere. Shizuo sighed as he looked at his hands. He placed the knife back down into his sack and grabbed the leftover skin from the animal. Bits and pieces of meat were still attached to the skin, but that could be cut off later. "Great, now I just have to find that sharp rock." Shizuo sighed.

"Hm..." Izaya ran into the woods and came back shortly after with a pretty sharp rock in his hand. "Take this."

"Thanks, I guess... I won't be able to use it though." Shizuo sighed but put it into his sack anyway. "Come on, we're going back to the camp to smoke the meat.. and then we're heading out again." the blonde said as he headed back to the camp.

"Why can't you use it?" Izaya said as they walked.

"The edge is a bit soft.. compared to the other rocks I have." The blonde explained with a weak smile on his lips.

"It's not soft at all." he chuckled lightly, remembering how he had stepped on it and cut his foot.

Shizuo stuck his hand down into his sack, sneaking around the leaves filled with meat and took out another rock. "Here, try this."

"No thanks. I didn't say your rocks weren't sharper... It's just that the rock felt pretty sharp under my foot."

Shizuo frowned. "You stepped on it?"

"Hm? Yeah."

Shizuo sighed. "Great. Don't walk around on it, it might get infected." the blonde stopped.

"Eh?" he said and stopped too.

Shizuo took off the leather sack and handed it to Izaya. He picked Izaya up, bridal style and continued walking back to the camp. "Don't squirm around like that." Shizuo mumbled.

"B-b-but!" he blushed.

"Idiot, keep still." Shizuo growled.

"Your tribe.. won't they laugh at us?" he blushed.

"They can laugh all they want to."

Izaya was stunned at the answer but soon calmed down and got used to the warmth of Shizuo's chest against his thighs, arms and side. Shizuo's skin was a bit sweaty but Izaya didn't really care and after a while he rested his head against the broad chest. He was tired. Pretty tired.

* * *

Christine: Update~ reviews thank you~!


	9. Try Again

Amazingly, no one laughed when they entered the camp. Shizuo went straight to his tent and put Izaya down on the bed. "Stay still." he ordered as he took the leather sack from Izaya and placed it near the fire. The deer skin was left next to it.

Izaya had felt so comfortable being held that he almost felt like whimpering when Shizuo put him down. _Almost_. Wait, he wasn't supposed to have such thoughts!

Shizuo found a large bowl with water and dipped some rabbit skin into the cool water. He grabbed Izaya's foot and placed the wet rabbit skin over it, cleaning it.

Izaya hissed quietly as the water hit his open wound.

The blonde removed the wet fur and looked at Izaya's foot. "It's not that deep, I guess you'll survive." he placed the wet fur over it again, holding it in place.

Izaya leaned back, resting his weight on his arms. "Of course I won't die from something like this." he smiled wryly.

Shizuo scowled at him. "I can't have you limping around when you've got work to do."

"I'll walk normally..." [Insensitive old geezer].

"Whatever.. clean it yourself, I've got to smoke the meat." Shizuo said as he left the raven. He pulled all the leaves with meat out of the leather sack and placed them near the cold fireplace. He grabbed some of the wood, which was hidden over in the corner and placed it on the fire. With the help of two rocks he quickly made a fire from a little spark.

Izaya sat cross legged and struggled to get a good look on his foot while cleaning the wound. After a long silence he finally spoke, "Shizuo... Have... you ever really... I mean _really _cared for someone?"

"Of course I have." he said bluntly, not looking at the other.

"Who?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Hmmm... You won't tell me?"

"You don't need to know." he paused. "All you need to know, is that I'm not a cold-hearted bastard." he mumbled.

"You may say that..."

Shizuo ignored Izaya as he continued to smoke the meat.

"No, really... I know you aren't. I know you have good sides, ne? Umm.. But sometimes... Never mind." he let off, and cleaned his wound.

"Sometimes what?" the blonde sighed.

"No.. I don't want to make you angry or cause trouble. Never mind."

"You started, now finish."

"Umm.. Sometimes... you tend not to think about.. other's feelings and, umm, just spit out things that might hurt the other." he explained nervously.

"I know."

"You know?" he said surprised.

"Yes, I do."

"Then... why do you do it?"

"Because that's how I am."

"So... You like hurting others?" he asked carefully.

"Do you think I do it on purpose?" Shizuo turned to look at Izaya.

"I.. I don't know, that's why I'm asking."

"I act before I think." Shizuo explained and turned his gaze to the meat again.

"Hmmm.." Izaya thought for a second, remembering how Shizuo easily got angry. "So... You're saying you have a problem with your temper?"

Shizuo sighed. "Whatever." he let out.

"Why don't you seek help if it bothers you?"

"It doesn't bother me, because I usually don't have anyone around it bothers."

"Eh? You never talk to others from your tribe?"

"I like being on my own."

"So you would rather just have me killed?"

"Before all this yes, then I didn't have to bother with you." he paused. "But I guess you're an okay person to be around."

Izaya blushed like never before and felt like crawling into a hole to hide his flustered face. "You know... Even though you have anger problems and sometimes hurt me... I'm glad I was told to live with you."

Shizuo frowned at that. "What the hell is this? Some kind of confession moment?" he growled.

"You started it..."

"You asked all those... questions." he snorted.

"And I'm glad I did... Ne?"

Shizuo ignored the other and asked instead: "Is it clean? Your wound that is."

"Yes, I think I managed."

"Good, then clean up after yourself."

"Okay..." [He really is mean at times] Izaya stood up and made sure not to rest any weight on his hurt foot to prevent dirt from entering his wound. He jumped on one leg and cleaned up the tiny mess.

"You did that on purpose, so you didn't have to go hunting." Shizuo mumbled.

"No I didn't. I can still go with you. I'm just not catching any of the animals."

"Shut up with that nonsense!" Shizuo exclaimed.

Izaya flinched and fell down onto his butt.

"You're going to do it, whether you want to or not."

"I would rather break a leg." The raven mumbled, rubbing his tailbone.

Shizuo shook his head and finished up with the meat and placed it on a giant stone plate. He covered it with a piece of leather. "Come on, then." he mumbled, took the leather sack with spears and dragged Izaya with him.

"Wha-, wai-" he stumbled after the blonde. Great, now the wound got dirty again and it hurt, but he chose to ignore it.

"Catch something, and you don't have to work tomorrow." the blonde growled.

"R-really?"

"Yes." Shizuo nodded and dragged him down through the tall grass again.

"Promise?"

"I don't mean those little animals a baby can catch."

"What do you want me to catch?"

"Even a fish will do." Shizuo raised a brow.

"A hare?"

"Pff, good luck."

"But... Hm? Shh." he said as he stopped in his tracks and kneeled on the ground, hiding in the grass.

Shizuo rolled his eyes and kneeled down in the grass, watching Izaya.

Izaya had closed his eyes and listened.

Shizuo waited patiently for the other to return with some kind of animal.

[There.] he thought as he opened his eyes and saw a hare. What a coincidence. But he didn't have anything to kill it with and it was a good ten meters away from him. Crawling closer he found a sharp rock on the ground and crawled closer. But then, he stepped on a branch which broke with a small cracking sound and the hare jumped off. "No way..." he mumbled. He was pretty sure Shizuo had seen it too. Izaya was.. unbelievably disappointed. He felt all the miserable feelings he had felt so many times before when he hadn't been able to catch his prey. And Shizuo... Shizuo would yell at him, wouldn't he?

Shizuo approached the younger male. "I wouldn't go for a hare at first, they're quick little bastards." Shizuo mumbled and pulled Izaya to his feet.

Even though Shizuo sounded calm, he didn't dare to look at him and kept his gaze at the ground

"Try something else." Shizuo said as he patted Izaya's shoulder.

Then Izaya's hurt and pained eyes met Shizuo's. Was he really encouraging him?

The blonde frowned. "You don't have all day.." he paused. "Come on." Shizuo said as he dragged Izaya with him through the tall grass.

Izaya felt better because the blonde hadn't yelled at him, but his spirits didn't go up. He really didn't want to hunt.

Shizuo stopped and pushed Izaya in front of him. "I'm not supposed to be at the front. Go on."

Izaya hesitated but began walking slowly forward, he looked a bit around, trying to spot some animal. Great... A deer. He sat down in the grass, holding the stone he found before as he watched the animal.

Shizuo hid behind a rock and kept an eye on Izaya's movements.

Izaya carefully began crawling towards the animal. He still didn't feel like it but he hoped he would be able to do it. He had to... When he was close enough he was just about to throw the stone when the animal seemed to look towards him, stop dead and suddenly run off. Izaya couldn't believe it. Twice.. It had been over a year since the last time he had attempted to go hunting but the pain was the same. Even though his father wasn't there, it hurt. Because it only made his father's words true.

"Oh, well. Try again." Shizuo said as he approached the raven-haired.

Izaya just wanted to say no and leave. But he couldn't do that either. He simply rose from the ground and began walking again. Another five failed attempts later, Izaya felt horrible. He had then noticed another animal, another deer and kneeled in the grass again.

The sun had started to set.

[Come on, Izaya..] Shizuo thought as he sat beside the determined raven-haired.

Izaya held then stone tightly in his hand and carefully crawled closer to the animal. [Come on..] he thought. When close enough, he got ready to throw the stone. Just as he threw it, the deer decided to move which meant the stone only hit the ground and the deer ran off.

Shizuo dragged a hand across his face and rose from the ground. He was so close to telling Izaya that he'd never be able to hunt properly, but he decided not to. He did say that he wouldn't scold the boy. "Come on." Shizuo said as he walked through the tall grass.

Izaya lightly shook his head as he sat in the tall grass, looking at the ground.

"Izaya. Come on." Shizuo looked over his shoulder and noticed the boy sitting in the tall grass.

"I told you I couldn't do it."

"Why don't you tell yourself that you can?" Shizuo went back to Izaya.

"Because I know better."

"Tell yourself that you can."

"I did. Have tried."

"Do it again!"

"I did."

"Do it again." Shizuo repeated and lifted Izaya to his feet. "And again, and again." he had a firm grip on Izaya's arm.

Izaya stumbled a bit, only resting his weight on his right foot. "It doesn't matter."

"Stop that."

"What?"

"Stop being so damn stubborn."

"I'm not stubborn. I'm facing reality."

Shizuo had such an urge to hit Izaya across the face, but he tried not to. "Get going." he hissed and pushed Izaya to continued walking.

"Go home." Izaya said and turned around, grabbing a spear from the sack.

Shizuo frowned at that. "Hm?"

Izaya began walking into the woods. "I'm getting a hare." he said, sounding frustrated.

Shizuo rolled his eyes and followed.

"Or a pheasant. Something."

"Sounds good."

"Go home."

"Why do you want me to leave?"

Izaya stopped in his tracks and shook his head. "I don't know..."

"Then I'm coming along."

"No..." he said and began walking again. Maybe he better calm down as to not anger the blonde.

The blonde shook his head and followed the stubborn raven-haired. It was getting dark, and it got hard to see in the woods. It would be almost impossible to hunt under these conditions.

Izaya then went into the woods, out of the tall grass and sat down on the ground, hiding behind a tree. He could see a pheasant. How lucky. It was picking at the ground, probably still searching for food.

Shizuo sat behind a rock and observed the animal and Izaya.

[Come on, come on.] he thought as he adjusted the spear carefully in his hand and got ready to throw it. But just as he just ready to throw it, some tiny pheasants approached the big one. God, the thing had young pheasants! Izaya lowered the spear and rose from the ground, walking past Shizuo.

Shizuo nodded in approval and followed Izaya.

Izaya headed towards the camp. It was getting darker and when the sun had fully set, it would be dangerous to be away from the camp.

"Hm? Going back?" Shizuo asked, curiously.

"It's dangerous to be here when the sun sets."

"Oh, well." Shizuo sighed. "Glad I don't have to cook dinner and such tomorrow." he said as he snatched the spear from Izaya.

Izaya ignored the remark and instead started to focus on the burning pain in his foot. He had forgotten all about it, being too focused on catching some stupid animal he didn't even manage to catch. God, it was even embarrassing. But he was grateful that Shizuo hadn't scolded him or yelled at him.

"You're slow. Is it your foot?" Shizuo asked as he turned around to face the upset raven-haired.

Izaya slowly nodded.

"Can you walk home?"

Izaya nodded again as he walked past the blonde.

They both walked home in silence. It was getting rather cold outside and Shizuo noticed Izaya shivering a bit. "Cold?"

Izaya nodded. His foot was hurting more and he caught himself limping once in a while until he found out that he could walk better if he only walked on the tip of his foot.

"Look." Shizuo sighed and stopped Izaya from walking any further. The blonde placed the spear down into the sack and flung the leather sack onto his back. He then lifted Izaya up, bridal style and walked towards the camp. "It's the second time today, pretty pathetic, huh?"

Izaya didn't say anything, but simply leaned his head against the blonde, seeking some comfort.

Shizuo chuckled a bit.

"Hm?" Izaya let out, questioning the blonde what was funny.

"It was quite funny seeing you today, I must say."

"What?" he said in a low voice, as he closed his eyes.

"Never mind, I'll have to teach you how to hunt some day."

"Okay... But it's not funny..."

"Whatever you say." Shizuo said with a smile plastered on his lips.

Izaya cracked an eye open and looked at the blonde. Damn, the guy just had to smile, didn't he? Well, it somehow cheered Izaya up too. And he had to admit that it felt much better to be chuckled at than yelled at.

* * *

Signe: Read, enjoy, review!  
Christine: And remember to review~! Double review! 8D


	10. The Lake

As they entered the blonde's tent, Shizuo lay Izaya down on the soft wolf fur. "Hungry?" he asked as he emptied the sack of its contents and put it away.

"No." Izaya lied. He didn't want to bother the blonde and he didn't really feel like eating anyway. He was pretty tired and just wanted to go to sleep. Ah, well, after he cooked dinner.

"I'll make some anyway, in case you get hungry." Shizuo said as he took two pieces of smoked meat and placed them on top of another stone plate. He heated the plate up by lighting the fire which was under it. He grabbed the pot with the olive oil and looked at the amount which was left. He sighed and poured some out on top of the stone plate.

"I can cook dinner."

"You stay right there." Shizuo said and found a bowl with clean water to clean the knife he had used earlier to cut the meat.

"I really don't mind..." he told him again.

"Clean your foot instead." Shizuo mumbled and started to rinse the knife.

Izaya crawled on his knees to a water pot and put in the fur he had used before and began cleaning his foot. Fuck, that hurt.

A few minutes passed and the oil on the stone plate began to fry. Shizuo dried his hands off in some fur, grabbed the two pieces of meat and quickly placed them on the hot stone.

Izaya quickly cleaned his foot from sand. "Umm.. Do you have something I can wrap around it?"

"Use some of the rabbit fur, it helps." Shizuo said as he kept an eye on the meat.

"Helps?" Izaya questioned but did as told and wrapped a small oblong piece around his hurt foot.

The blonde shrugged "I don't know, something my mom told me."

"Oh... Okay... Where is your mom now?"

"Dead."

"O-oh... I'm sorry."

Shizuo shrugged. "Shit happens."

"Hmm.. What happened?"

"She was taken from me.. and killed."

"Eh? Why? When? Who?" he asked curiously, feeling sorry for the blonde.

"Does it really matter? It's in the past."

"I know... I'm just curious. And to me it matters." he explained and crawled to sit next to the blonde.

"Some strangers decided to stop by..." Shizuo said as he turned the meat on the stone plate.

"Yes?"

He shrugged "They just took her away. That's all." he paused. "I don't know why.."

"I'm sorry." Izaya said and placed a calming hand on Shizuo's shoulder. "Go on."

The blonde chuckled. "There's nothing more to say."

"So you're alright?"

"I don't like dwelling in the past." Shizuo mumbled.

"I guess that's a good thing. How old were you?"

"Hm.." Shizuo looked up from the meat. "Eight.. yeah."

"Must have been hard."

"It was.. Took me a couple of years to get over."

"Understandable." Izaya nodded and nuzzled the blonde's shoulder with his thumb without thinking any further about it.

He let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, well. Dinner's ready." he smiled and took the meat off the stone plate and put them in two bowls. "You'll have to manage with that."

"With the story?"

"The food. Food!" Shizuo chuckled.

Izaya smiled at the chuckling blonde. Finally the blonde seemed happy. And though he had had a bad day, Izaya felt a bit happier to see Shizuo like that. "It's fine. I'm not really hungry." he paused. "Umm.. Thanks for sharing your past."

"I don't really know if that's a good thing or not." Shizuo frowned and began eating.

"Sharing your past? I don't see anything wrong with it.."

The blonde just shrugged at that and continued eating.

"Don't worry about it. I told you about my grandmother too, ne?" he said and took a piece of meat eating it.

"Thought you said you weren't hungry."

"I'm not." he said finishing the little piece of meat. And he really wasn't. Before, he had been a bit hungry but hadn't _felt _like eating. Now he wasn't hungry at all, but took another bite of the piece of meat anyway.

Shizuo raised a brow.

"I'm just a bit tired." Izaya assured him when he noticed the raised brow.

"Get some sleep then."

Izaya shook his head and took a few more bites of the meat before putting it back into his bowl. "I'll wait."

"Don't stay awake if you're tired." Shizuo mumbled and finished his meat.

"It's alright." he smiled wryly. "Let me take your bowl. Ah, would you like to eat my meat too, or is that considered a confession?"

The blonde chuckled. "No, that's just an offering. I'll eat it." Shizuo said as he grabbed the meat and ate it.

"Okay then." Izaya took both bowls and went to clean them which he did. His foot felt a bit better after having it cleaned.

While Izaya took care of the dishes, Shizuo continued cleaning the knife. But after realizing that he needed to finish the deer skin, he sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?" Izaya asked as he finished cleaning the dishes, turning to look at the blonde.

"Forgot the damn skin." he mumbled and grabbed said skin. He turned it inside out and began cutting the remaining pieces of meat and such off.

"Oh.. Here, I'll help you." he said and approached the blonde.

"You don't have to."

"It's been a long day. Let me help you, ne?" he sat down beside the blonde.

"Just.." the blonde sighed. "If you really want to help, can't you go get some fresh water then? To clean this."

"Sure." Izaya said and rose from the ground. He picked up a pot. "I'll be back soon." he said and left the tent. He blindly went down to the lake. It was dark after all. But he was pretty much able to see the way in the moonlight. When he found the lake he went closer to the water and suddenly slipped, falling right onto his butt into the very cold water. Luckily, it was only as deep as his shoulders still showed at the surface. He quickly went out of the water, filled the pot and went back to the tent, shivering violently as the cold air hit his moist body. "Urg.." he let out and hurried home, into the tent.

Shizuo looked up at the soaked boy. "What happened to you?" he chuckled.

"I-I f-f-fell into t-the la-lake." he shivered and put the pot down beside the blonde, crossing his arms and rubbing his biceps to keep warm.

"Oh boy." Shizuo mumbled, and with the help of a piece of skin he removed the stone plate from the fire. "Here, sit by the fire and get warm."

Izaya willingly did as told and sat down before the fire, keeping his knees to his chest.

Shizuo frowned. "Uh, not to sound all creepy and stuff, but it would be best if you removed the clothing around your waistline." he paused. "Wet clothing always makes it worse." he mumbled short after.

Izaya still shivered from the cold water and looked at Shizuo; surprise obvious in his expression. "T-then what s-s-should I wear?"

Shizuo rose from the ground and found some wolf fur which could cover Izaya's body. "Here." he mumbled and gave it to Izaya. "Just make sure not to burn it.."

"O-o-of course I-I won't burn it." he chuckled stiffly as he gladly took the fur and began unwrapping the one around his waist. "Umm.. Turn around?" he asked shyly.

"Geez, we're both male, what's the big deal?" Shizuo mumbled but turned around anyway and continued to rinse the new skin.

"G-good point." Izaya took the piece of leather off and wrapped the wolf skin around his waist instead. He took his wet piece of clothing and hung it on a wood-stick sticking up of the ground near the entrance. He then sat down beside the blonde with heavy eyes as his body still shivered lightly. "Are you done soon?"

"No, and you should get dry before lying down in the bed..." Shizuo mumbled.

"I'm gonna be dry soon."

"Good.."

Shizuo took care of the skin as Izaya's body got dry from the water. After awhile Shizuo stood from the ground. Izaya was still a bit cold, but at least he was dry by now.

The blonde placed the skin on the ground, spreading it out to dry properly during the night. "Alright.. let's go to bed." Shizuo sighed.

Izaya gave a quick nod and rose from the ground. Izaya lay down first waiting for Shizuo.

A sigh escaped the blonde's lips as he sat down and stretched. He laid himself down short after and pulled the blanket over his and Izaya's bodies.

[It's so cold..] Izaya thought as he kept shivering lightly.

"Are you still freezing?" the blonde frowned.

"Yes..." he admitted. "Umm.. Would it be okay.. If I.. Umm.."

"What?" Shizuo frowned and snuggled his face into the pillow.

"If I moved closer?"

Shizuo opened his eyes and glared at the other male. "What? Like this morning?"

"Morning?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember what happened this morning..."

"Eh? Did something happen?"

"You had your arm wrapped around me." he raised a brow.

"Eh? I had? Um.. I'm sorry." Izaya blushed.

"Are you talking _that _close or what?"

"Something like that.. I won't wrap my arm around you though... Don't worry."

Shizuo shook his head. "Turn around." he ordered.

"Eh?" Izaya let out and hesitated before turning his back to Shizuo. What did the blonde have in mind?

"You won't be able to get warm that way." Shizuo mumbled and inched closer to Izaya. He pushed the other closer to his body and dragged the blanket up to Izaya's neck. The blonde snuggled his head into the other's neck, breathing hot air down his spine.

"Mmm." Izaya purred. The hot breath sent shivers down his spine and generally felt comforting. He then realized he had just purred and tensed, blushing. But it just felt nice. And Shizuo's body was warm. He closed his eyes.

Shizuo ignored the sudden purring from the other male and closed his eyes.

Soon Izaya felt warm and both males fell asleep, cuddled up.

* * *

Signe: Makeshift-rolley, we made Izaya that way because we wanted him to be that way in this story ^^ We are aware that he is very much OOC, but it can't be helped if that's the way we wanted him to be. Thanks for sharing your opinion (;  
Christine: And another thing :p we haven't been reading about Native Americans at all.. so we have no idea of how on earth they 'lived'. It's pure fantasy what we're writing. About the weapon-maker-thing. Yeah, well.. fantasy again :p We will try to not write in too many details, but it's so hard xD we just want to get it all out :D anyway, yes. Thank you for telling us (:


	11. Fever

Shizuo frowned at the sound of someone coughing. He opened his eyes and noticed that he was still lying with Izaya in front of him. He sat up and looked down at the shivering boy.

The raven-haired snuggled his face further into the pillow and whimpered lowly as the warmth from behind him disappeared. He blinked as he slowly came to his senses. Izaya felt terrible. He felt cold, and his whole body ached slightly. But his throat was much worse than the rest as it felt raw and dry, not to mention sore.

"Are you alright?" Shizuo asked, a bit worried.

"Hm?" tired ruby eyes met caramel ones. "Yeah. Good morning." he yawned.

"Tch, you're joking," Shizuo snorted.

"No. I'm fine," he said seriously and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Lay down," Shizuo mumbled.

"I'm perfectly fine," he smiled and rose from the bed, feeling lightheaded.

"If you say so.."

Izaya nodded and went to find his normal clothes. The leather he wore the day he came. With his back turned to Shizuo, he stiffly removed the wolf fur and wrapped the other leather around his waist.

Shizuo stretched and he too rose from the bed to get up and start working, again.

"Isn't it rather cold today?" Izaya asked as he sat down in the kitchen and looked over his shoulder, body shivering lightly.

"No, it's warm... in fact I'm already sweating," Shizuo mumbled the last part to himself.

"It is?" Izaya questioned, feeling how he didn't feel the least warm.

"Yeah."

"Oh.." he let out and stared blindly at the ground. He stared for a while until Shizuo noticed.

"Izaya, what are you doing?" the blonde frowned.

No response.

"Oi.. Izaya," Shizuo said and approached the raven.

But the other still didn't react.

The blonde kneeled down beside Izaya and gently shook him. "Oi."

"Hm? Eh?" he questioned and looked confused at the blonde.

"You were spacing out.. and you said you were cold, right?"

"I am.."

"Your body is warm," Shizuo frowned and placed a hand on Izaya's forehead. "Geez, you're burning up. Go lie down."

"Huh?" he let out, slightly confused.

"Go lie down," Shizuo repeated. "No arguing."

Izaya slowly got to his feet, stumbling a bit as he went to the bed and laid himself down, feeling more content while lying down. He suddenly began coughing violently into his fist.

"Geez.." Shizuo sighed. "I don't know what to do..." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

Izaya kept coughing but then it stopped and he gasped for air until another coughing fit hit him and he had to sit up, coughing into his fist as his other hand held loosely around his aching throat.

"Need some water?"

Once the fit ended he took some deep breaths which only made his throat worse. "Yes, please," he said, voice hoarse from the major coughing fits.

Shizuo filled a bowl with fresh water and handed it to Izaya.

Izaya gladly took it with shaky hands. "Thank you," he said and drank some of the water, handing Shizuo the bowl.

"Drink all of it.." Shizuo demanded.

Izaya whined softly but did as told. God, he hated being sick. He always felt awful, though he had tried to get up today.

"I think you should stick to fruit today.." Shizuo mumbled.

"I'm not hungry," he mumbled, eyes closed. Without meaning to, he let his head fall forward until his forehead rested against the blonde's chest.

"You have to eat something.." Shizuo said, letting the boy's head be.

"Nouu," he whined silently. He always acted silly when he was sick and he knew it. But he couldn't help it.

"Don't be like that," Shizuo frowned.

"Sorry," he let out in a sigh. He then put a hand beside his head on Shizuo's chest, keeping it there.

"Izaya, you should just get some rest.."

Izaya nodded against the blonde's, kinda sweaty, chest and pushed himself off only to let his body fall down on the bed, giving in to the fever. He curled into a ball, trying to get warm; eyes closed, his body continued to shiver lightly.

Shizuo forced Izaya to lie on his back and wetted a piece of oblong fur which he placed over the raven's forehead.

"Covers.." he mumbled.

The blonde smiled and pulled the blanket up to Izaya's neck.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"You're welcome," the blonde left the raven to begin working. He would probably skip breakfast today.

* * *

Shizuo left the tent the moment Izaya fell asleep. He immediately went to the tribe's healer's tent. The moment he stepped in he was welcomed by a sweet scent of something he didn't quite recognize. An old lady covered in a brownish cloak approached him; her smile showing her wrinkles. "Ah, Shizuo. It's been a while. Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Well, you know the boy, Izaya, who came here quite a few days ago, right?" Shizuo started and the older woman nodded. "He's become ill and I have no idea what to do.." Shizuo admitted, looking away.

"I see," she smiled. "Let's go check up on him then," she pushed Shizuo out of her tent and followed him to his own. The moment they entered the tent Izaya started coughing again. Shizuo stepped aside so the healer could go see the ill raven-haired. She carefully kneeled down beside the fur bed and looked at raven.

She immediately placed her hand on the raven's forehead and nodded. "A fever, of course".

She pulled out a little leather bag and motioned Shizuo to come. "Put this in his drink and he will feel better, but the fever won't go away. That takes time," she smiled.

"In his drink?" Shizuo frowned.

"Yes, boil some water and put this in. It's called tea," she smiled.

"Ah, sure.." Shizuo nodded and took the dried greenish plant. "Firstly, you chop it into tiny pieces so it'll be easier to drink," she explained. The blonde nodded. "And then just put it in the water," she continued.

"Alright, I'll try that," Shizuo smiled. "Good, he'll feel better, don't worry. And if there's anymore trouble, you can come see me again," she assured the blonde and rose from the ground. She left the tent short after.

"Okay then.." Shizuo mumbled to himself and put the leaves in a bowl.

"Nnn.." Izaya groaned.

"You're awake?" Shizuo turned to look at the tired raven.

"Just woke up," he said, voice hoarse. He then began coughing violently and immediately sat up, coughing into his hand.

The blonde didn't answer he started chopping the leaves into tiny pieces, with the use of a sharp rock. He had put a little pot of water over to boil while he chopped the leaves.

As the wet piece of fur fell off he let his tired body fall back down on the bed and put it back on his forehead, thinking Shizuo might scold him for letting it fall off. "What are you doing?" he asked half-heartedly, eyes closed.

"Preparing a drink for you," he said bluntly.

"For me?"

"Yes," he sighed.

"You really don't have to. You have work... to do... ne?" he mumbled before falling back to sleep.

"That doesn't matter," Shizuo mumbled, realizing Izaya had already fallen asleep. [There's a bit too much here for one drink.. guess I'll save some for another time] he thought and put some in a smaller bowl, while the rest was put in Izaya's drinking bowl.

The boiled water was carefully poured into the bowl, and Shizuo accidently burnt his fingers, but that didn't matter right now. Before taking the drink to Izaya, he let it cool down a bit.

Shizuo gently shook Izaya, trying to wake him up. "Izaya..." he mumbled.

"Nnn.." The raven complained.

"Come on," Shizuo cupped the other's cheek.

"Hmm?" Izaya hummed, slowly opening his eyes, as they adjusted until he could see the blonde before him. He felt how the blonde held his cheek and smiled wryly at the other.

"Sit up."

The smile disappeared from Izaya's lips but he did as told and sat up in the bed, eyes closed as he felt sick and lightheaded.

Shizuo lifted the bowl up to Izaya's mouth. "Drink this," he mumbled and held onto Izaya's shoulder, to keep him from falling back down on the bed. The wet fur fell down onto the other's lap as he sat up.

Izaya opened his eyes a bit and looked at the bowl. He didn't bother to take it himself but just opened his mouth.

"It's a bit warm.." Shizuo warned and tipped the bowl a bit, letting Izaya drink some of it at first.

And Shizuo was right. It was warm but not warm enough to scald his mouth, instead he just furrowed his brows at the weird taste. It was weird, yes. But he kinda liked the unfamiliar flavour.

Shizuo tipped the bowl again, making Izaya drink the rest.

Izaya drank the rest and took a deep breath. His throat felt better now and didn't hurt as he took a deep breath.

"Good?"

"Yeah.. It tasted kinda good. What was it?" he asked tiredly.

The blonde shrugged. "Something our healer gave me."

"Alright," he nodded. "Wait.. You called the healer? I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble..."

"Don't worry about that," Shizuo sighed.

"Okay," he nodded willingly.

Shizuo forced a smile on his lips.

The boy opened his eyes and looked at the silent Shizuo. "Hm?" Maybe it was just the fever talking.. but did the blonde look... worried?

"What?" Shizuo raised a brow.

"Could it be that you're worried?" he heard himself ask. Oh well, he was sick, so he could just blame it on the fever.

Shizuo frowned and turned to walk away. "Get better soon," he mumbled.

"So cold.." Izaya whined and lay back down in the bed, not bothering to fiddle with the wet leather as he lay down on his side, trying to fall back asleep.

* * *

Christine: UPDATE! :D  
Signe: Don't you just love it when one of them is sick and the other has to take care of the other? :D


	12. Cuddling

A few hours later Izaya woke up again, feeling a bit better than he had before since his throat felt much better. That odd liquid surely had helped. He sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes.

Shizuo hadn't noticed Izaya; he was too occupied by his work.

"Shizuo?" Izaya questioned as he saw the blonde sitting with his back turned to Izaya. Luckily his voice didn't sound all that hoarse anymore.

The blonde looked over his shoulder then away again. "Yeah?"

Izaya fell back onto the bed and thought he would try something. He still felt sick and awful but he could manage this. "Shizuo.." he whined, eyes closed.

"What?" the blonde frowned and turned around.

"Nnn... Shizuo.." he mumbled in a whine. God, he was cold! The thing really hadn't done all that much after all... It only helped his throat.

Shizuo lazily got up and kneeled down beside the bed. "What's wrong?"

"I feel really bad.." he mumbled, brows furrowed.

"Hm?" Shizuo questioned.

Izaya moved a shaky hand from under the fur cover and waited for Shizuo to take it.

The blonde raised a brow but gently held Izaya's hand. "What's going on?"

Izaya held Shizuo's hand loosely, gently squeezing it before he relaxed his face. "Comfort.." he mumbled as he pulled Shizuo's hand with him under the covers and held the hand to his chest.

"What do you want, Izaya?" Shizuo sighed.

"Please don't leave me," he simply murmured, suddenly not feeling like testing the blonde anymore. But, he found out that the blonde wasn't all cold and icy. After all, he had come over to Izaya and willingly held his hand without pulling back even when his hand was pulled under the covers.

Shizuo frowned again and started chuckling. "You want me to sit like this for the rest of the day?"

"Nnnn... No.. Just.. A bit."

"Izaya.." the blonde sighed.

"Please... 'Till I fall asleep," he pleaded.

"Fine," he sat down and waited.

Izaya held the other man's hand tightly, but soon he relaxed and fell asleep again. It felt good to have someone by your side, holding your hand when you were feeling sick and miserable. At least Izaya thought so.

"Damn that was quick..." Shizuo mumbled to himself as he silently crawled away to continue his working.

* * *

It had been a long and exhausting day for the blonde. Izaya had been incapable of working the entire day, which resulted in Shizuo doing almost everything by himself. When the sun had set he went to the bed and kneeled down beside it. "Izaya?" he gently shook the other.

"Nnn... Hm?" the raven mumbled and slowly opened his eyes. "Shizuo?"

"Feeling any better? Do you need something to drink?"

Izaya slowly sat up in the bed. "Yeah. I feel better. A lot actually," he smiled weakly at the blonde. And it was true. He felt much better. His body wasn't as heavy and aching as before and his throat felt completely healed. He was still a bit lightheaded though and he felt cold. "Some water would be nice." he added.

"Alright, I guess that drink before helped, huh?" Shizuo smiled and prepared a drink for Izaya.

"It did. My throat feels fine now."

"Good," Shizuo smiled and handed Izaya a bowl of water.

Izaya took the bowl and drank about half of the water. "Thank you." he said as he handed Shizuo the bowl.

"Don't hold back..."

Izaya took that as Shizuo's way of telling him to drink the rest and so Izaya did, handing Shizuo the now empty bowl.

"Good," he nodded, satisfied. "Want anything to eat?"

"I'm not really hungry," he paused. "Besides, you look tired. You should just go to bed."

"I won't go to bed on an empty stomach.." Shizuo mumbled.

"You haven't eaten yet?"

"No.. I haven't had time for that."

"Oh.." Izaya said. It was his fault Shizuo was tired since he hadn't been there to help the blonde, which Shizuo probably had gotten used to. "Umm.. Sorry, ne?"

"Well it was pretty stupid of you to fall into the lake..." Shizuo mumbled and turned around to grab some fruit he could eat.

"I didn't do it on purpose..." he mumbled and lay himself back down in the bed, lying on his side so he could watch the blonde. He snuggled up in the wolf fur, trying to keep warm.

"You better be ready for tomorrow..."

"I will... I don't wanna be a bother.."

"Aha..." Shizuo turned around and raised a brow.

"Isn't that what y-you're thinking?" he heard himself ask.

Shizuo decided to ignore the question and handed Izaya an apple. "Eat.."

Izaya unwillingly took the apple and sat upright. "So I'm right?" he asked nervously.

Shizuo just glared at him and looked away, eating his apple.

[Ouch...] Izaya thought as he took a bite of the apple in his hand and swallowed. He wasn't hungry at all.

"Eat it all." Shizuo ordered as he took another bite of his.

Izaya sucked it up and took another bite. And another. "I'm not hungry, Shizuo..."

"Eat it anyway."

Izaya wrapped the wolf fur around his shaking body and continued to eat the apple. Soon enough he managed to eat it. "Thanks for the food."

"It's your food, you found it," Shizuo said as he moved to clean up after working on his knife.

"It doesn't matter who found it... It's your food too."

"Whatever." Shizuo shrugged.

Izaya lay back down in the bed, and moved to make room for Shizuo when the blonde was ready to go to bed. [I'm still cold...]

The blonde let out a tired sigh as he made himself comfortable.

"Are you alright?" Izaya suddenly asked.

"I'm exhausted." Shizuo said as he closed his eyes.

Izaya looked at Shizuo's back, thinking if he should move just a bit closer for warmth. "Mm, I understand. You need a good nights sleep, ne?"

"Yeah..."

"Umm... May I move closer?" he asked shyly.

The blonde lazily opened his eyes to frown. "Are you still cold?"

"Umm.. Y-yes.."

Shizuo sighed. "Can't you take the blanket instead?"

"I'm already wrapped up in it."

"Take all of it." Shizuo said as he pushed the blanket off.

"N-no.." Izaya said nervously as he put the blanket back on Shizuo's body. "I won't do anything.. I'm just moving a bit closer.. Won't that be alright?" he tried again. He couldn't let Shizuo lie without a blanket all night. Then the blonde might get sick.

"I'm not going to cuddle with you," Shizuo let out as he turned around to look at the other male.

"I-I didn't mean it like that..." he blushed.

"Go to sleep." Shizuo sighed and turned back around. [I knew I shouldn't have done it last night...] he thought, feeling annoyed.

Izaya thought that he could just wait till Shizuo was asleep then. So after some time, he decided to check. "Shizuo?" he whispered.

Shizuo was already sleeping tightly.

[Good, he's sleeping.] With that, Izaya carefully moved closer and snuggled his face into Shizuo's back, while placing his hands on his mid-back for warmth. [Warm..] Soon Izaya fell asleep too.

* * *

Christine: New chappie :D enjoy and review, you amazing readers! Signe, apparently, has nothing to say xD


	13. The Tribe

In his sleep, Shizuo had turned around to face Izaya, which resulted in Shizuo wrapping an arm around Izaya, placing his hand on the smaller male's lower back. Their faces were really close and they could feel each other's breaths. Izaya breathed out on Shizuo's neck while Shizuo breathed on Izaya's forehead. Izaya had wrapped an arm around Shizuo as well, his hand on Shizuo's upper back. Their legs were tangled and they lay almost as close as possible.

"Nnn..." Izaya mumbled as the boy slowly came to his senses, blinking to get his eyes to focus. "Hm?" What was that in front of him? Shizuo? Oh, it was Shizuo. Moving his head slightly up, he saw the blonde's face just above his head. God, they lay close! He could feel the other's warm breath against his forehead and Izaya had to admit it felt nice. He felt how the blonde's arm was around him and that Izaya's arm was around the blonde as well.

Moving his legs slightly, he felt how their legs were tangled. It was comforting and warm. He really liked laying like that. Deciding not to wake up the blonde since he felt good lying there, he kept still and closed his eyes, gently nuzzling the blonde's upper back where he had his hand.

"Hnn.." Shizuo frowned and snuggled his face closer to Izaya's head.

"Mmm," Izaya let out and moved closer to the blonde as well. How come it felt so good to lie like that with the blonde? He shouldn't feel that way... Especially not when the other was male as well.

Shizuo began to yawn and moved back a bit.

"Nnn... Shizuo," Izaya mumbled and moved closer.

The blonde frowned and moaned softly as he felt something brush against his crotch.

Izaya tensed for a moment but moved closer again and kept nuzzling the blonde's upper back.

"Hn.." Shizuo slowly opened his eyes, still half asleep. He noticed some black hair in front of his vision. "Wha-..?" he let out, closing his eyes again. A few minutes passed before he quickly opened his eyes again and pushed himself out of the bed. "What the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed.

"Hm?" Izaya questioned and sat up in the bed. "Wha-?" Izaya started but then knew exactly what the blonde was referring to. "Umm.. You held me as well.. I don't know how we ended up that way," he explained, blushing.

"You should've pushed me away! Don't cuddle up with me!"

"I-I woke up like this too... It's not my fault."

"It is your fault! Don't ever do that again!" Shizuo hissed.

"I didn't make you hold me."

"You should've pushed me away!"

"I know.." he said shyly. But he had felt so comfortable...

"Why didn't you then?"

"Y-you're too strong and heavy... And I just woke up as well.."

"Liar," Shizuo mumbled.

[Cold hearted old man...] Izaya thought. "I'll make breakfa-" he blushed wildly and turned his head away from the blonde. "S-S-Shizuo.. The leather..."

Shizuo looked down at himself and quickly covered himself up. He growled and left the tent in a rush.

"Awkward.." Izaya mumbled and went to make breakfast.

The blonde sighed as he went down to the lake to wash his face.

"Stupid... cuddling-freak," Shizuo mumbled. He sighed as he rose from the ground again and went back to the tent, seeing Izaya cook breakfast.

"Ah, breakfast is ready," he told the blonde and gave him a bowl with fruits in.

"Whatever.." Shizuo mumbled and took the bowl from Izaya.

"P-please don't be like that." He smiled wryly.

"It's your fault I'm in a bad mood."

"S-sorry... Umm.. I made you some of that grape juice," he tried and went to get the bowl for Shizuo. "Here"

The blonde sighed as he took the bowl and placed it on the ground in front of him.

Izaya sat down before the brute and began eating the fruit in his bowl. He was very hungry since he hadn't been able to eat much yesterday and his bowl was quickly emptied.

"Do you always sit like a woman?" Shizuo suddenly asked, as he noticed that Izaya sat on his legs.

Izaya almost choked on his food and coughed. "E-excuse me?"

"You sit like a girl."

"I... I feel comfortable sitting like this..."

"Maybe you are a female..." Shizuo raised a brow. "Explains the cooking..."

"I'm not... I'm male just like you."

"Sit properly then."

Izaya sat with his legs crossed like the blonde. "At least I don't sit bowed. Straighten your back," Izaya backfired gently with a weak smile on his face.

"That's how I sit." Shizuo scowled at the other person.

"See? And I sit on my legs... So if I'm gonna sit like this, you're gonna straighten your back, ne?"

"Whatever, go back to being a woman if that's what you want."

"How mean.." Izaya let out without really meaning to, but he just couldn't help it. But he went back to sit like he normally did.

"If you say so." Shizuo shrugged.

"Mhm.. What are you doing today?"

"What do you think?"

"Cleaning?" he asked.

"Cleaning? What are you talking about? I'll be working, obviously."

"Then I guess I'll be cleaning?"

"Well, well. Aren't you clever today?"

[Wow... Suddenly a bastard.. Oh well, I don't mind all that much] he chuckled at the thought.

"Feeling better?" the blonde suddenly asked.

"Hm?" Izaya said as he snapped out of his thoughts.

"Well?"

"I feel fine now. I'm not cold anymore either," he smiled at the blonde. So he really did worry a bit about him.

"Good" Shizuo nodded. "I'm done," he mumbled and gave his bowl to Izaya and drank the grape juice before handing that bowl over too.

"Okay, I'll take care of these then." he took all the bowls and went to wash them. "Say, Shizuo.. Umm.. Would you mind, umm.. Maybe you could show me around in your tribe?"

"If you can clean up there and make the bed in two minutes, then alright."

Izaya hurried and quickly finished the dishes and then went to carefully but quickly make the bed. "Done!" he suddenly exclaimed, panting slightly. He had made sure he did a good job while doing it as fast as he possibly could.

"Hmm." Shizuo went to check up on how the other had done. "Pretty good, when you know that your foot is hurt too, hm?"

"It's not that bad," Izaya assured him. He was still wearing the rabbit fur so the wound wouldn't get dirty.

"Alright.. let's go," Shizuo sighed and rose from the ground.

Izaya smiled and ran out the tent waiting for Shizuo outside.

The moment Shizuo stepped out he was greeted by a bright light. He quickly held his hand over his eyes to put them in some sort of shade. "What do you want to see?"

"Everything."

"There isn't much to show."

"Doesn't matter." he smiled.

"Well-" Shizuo was interrupted by a young woman approaching them. "Good morning, boys," she said, smiling. Shizuo immediately looked down at the ground. "Good morning.." the blonde mumbled.

"Good morning," Izaya greeted shyly and looked at the woman's neck.

"I was actually on my way over to invite you both to my wedding, which is tomorrow." she smiled. "Oh, right.. sure," Shizuo said nervously.

Of course it had to be Kara. Izaya had decided he didn't like that girl and he looked away. He looked at Shizuo who seemed uncomfortable.

"So, how are things going?" she asked, looking at Izaya's neck. "Uh, fine I guess." Shizuo shrugged. He didn't like bothering with girls like Kara, they always meant trouble.

Izaya kept quiet and looked down at the ground.

"Oh! Izaya, your foot!" she exclaimed and kneeled down before him, looked at it and then up at his face.

Izaya immediately turned his head away, looked to his side, away from Shizuo, with a slight blush spreading on his face.

Shizuo kept an eye on Izaya, smiling as the boy did what he could to look away from the girl's eyes. Kara gently brushed her hand against Izaya's leg as she rose from the ground. "I hope you'll get better." she smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to attend to," she chuckled and left the two boys.

Izaya's body was tense from the sudden contact as she brushed his leg which he figured she had done on purpose.

"Are you okay?"

"No.." he said without thinking. "She's up to something. And I don't like it."

"She can't do that much, since she's getting married."

"It's still annoying.."

"I know. Just put up with it. Every woman around here uses the thing with the eyes against us males.." Shizuo mumbled.

"That's so unfair," he mumbled as he slowly relaxed his body, shoulder slumping as he turned to look at the blonde.

"Some of them are cruel.." the blonde mumbled as he started walking.

"Apparently," Izaya answered and followed the blonde. He then saw some five children play soccer. They had placed two rocks apart from each other as a goal and about ten metres from there, another two rocks formed a goal. The ball suddenly came rolling towards him and he stopped. "Kick it!" one of the boys yelled happily. Izaya looked at Shizuo to check it if would be okay.

The blonde nodded, smiling.

Izaya smiled back and instead of kicking it, he ran towards the ball until he carefully kicked it to one of the boys who scored. "Goal!" one of them yelled and everyone laughed. "Hey, you wanna play?" another one asked, everyone smiled at Izaya, hoping for a yes. Izaya looked back at Shizuo with pleading eyes.

"Go on," Shizuo said as he sat down in the grass to watch them play.

Izaya smiled happily and nodded at the boys. "Okay! Let's form the teams! What's your name?"

"Izaya."

"I wanna be with Izaya!" another of the boys suddenly said.

"Okay! Then it's Taro, Izaya and?"

"Me!"

"And Kataro. And the other team will be Naka, Tonaru and me."

"Alright," Izaya said. "And what would your name be?" he asked like an adult.

"I'm Kimaru."

"Okay, let's get started." With that, Taro was goalkeeper on Izaya's team and on the other team it was Kimaru. Everyone played and Izaya smiled widely as he carefully tackled the other children and kicked it to his teammates. Sometimes, he let them tackle him and faked his surprise. He praised them if they scored or if the ball was saved by the goalkeeper. He praised everyone, both teams. "Good job, Taro!"

Shizuo couldn't help but smile at the happy young raven-haired. It was what he needed after all. Some time to have fun.

After having played for some hours he thought he better head back to the waiting Shizuo. "Sorry, but I have to leave," he smiled at them. "Awww.. but.." everyone pouted. "Come play again!" Taro suddenly said and everyone smiled.

"Sure!" he smiled. All the boys laughed and high-fived Izaya. Then Izaya waved at them and went back to Shizuo. "S-sorry for the wait." he smiled brightly, still affected by the fun he had had with the boys.

"Don't worry about it. You needed it, right?" Shizuo said as he rose from the ground.

"Eh?" he said and rubbed his arm a bit in nervousness.

"I haven't seen a smile like that before," Shizuo said as he began walking again.

Izaya followed the blonde. "Thank you."

"You're quite good at it, huh?"

"Not really," he chuckled.

"Seemed like it."

"Maybe you're just bad at it?" he challenged.

"Pff, you don't want to see me playing that... game."

"Why not?"

"You said it. I'm not good at it"

"Really? I would have thought you were the type to play a lot as a child."

"Nah." the blonde shrugged.

"Hmmm? Okay then." he smiled. "Ah, Shizuo!" A woman called.

"Eh?" Shizuo turned around to look at who it was only to quickly look down to the ground.

"How are you doing? It's been quite a while," the woman smiled as she approached the two.

"Everything's fine." he smiled, still looking at the ground. "You, how's it going with you and your family?"

"It's going just fine like always. And who might you be? You're the new one, right?"

"Y-yes. I'm Izaya," he said looking the other way. "Well, nice to meet you"

"Y-you too."

"Oh well, I've got a lot to do today. See you later!" she waved and walked away.

"Yeah, sure." Shizuo nodded as she left them.

"Let's continue, shall we?" Izaya smiled at the blonde.

"Right.." Shizuo frowned.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he smiled and walked past the young raven.

"Okay." Izaya followed the blonde and suddenly that little girl who had smiled and giggled at him before ran up to him and it made Izaya stop and look up at Shizuo. "Is it okay to look her in the eyes?"

"When they reach the age of 13 you can't look them in the eyes, so it'll be fine now." Shizuo smiled. The little girl looked up at Izaya with great big eyes.

Izaya kneeled down before the girl. "Hello. I never did get your name now, did I? I'm Izaya." he smiled gently at the girl.

* * *

Christine: New chappie :D!


	14. Nera

The girl then placed her hand on Izaya's cheek, gently stroking it. "Nera," she mumbled.

"Well hello, Nera." He smiled, slightly taken aback at the hand on his cheek but he chose to just let it be and let the girl have her fun with the stranger he was. "Are you out to play?"

She carefully nodded. "You have red eyes." She pulled her hand back and stared into Izaya's eyes.

"Yes. I do. You don't like that?"

"Red is pretty."

"Why, thank you." He smiled and patted the small girl's head. "But you know. Blue is much prettier," he told the girl as he saw the beautiful pair of blue eyes she had. Just a tad darker than the sky.

The girl started giggling again. "No, they're normal."

"Not quite," he said. "Look." He pointed to the sky. "You see that perfect blue up there?"

"Mm." She nodded as she too looked up towards the blue sky.

"_That_, is a very pretty and special colour. Now try and imagine it just a tad darker," he told her gently. "Isn't that much prettier?"

"It is pretty." She looked up towards the sky with dreamy eyes. "Do you like that colour?" she looked back at Izaya.

"Very much so. And that is your eye colour. Just a tab darker than the sky," he said and looked at the girl. "See? Your eyes _are _special."

"You like my eyes…" she mumbled quietly.

"Of course. They're pretty. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, ne?"

The little girl leaned in and threw her arms around Izaya, resting her head against his chest, rubbing her cheek against the broad chest.

"Hm? What's wrong?" he chuckled lightly and patted the girls back.

"You are sweet," she mumbled. "No one else likes to talk to me."

"Hm? Why is that?" he questioned, frowning lightly as he hugged the girl when he felt that was the right thing to do.

"I don't know," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry. Aren't there any girls your age you can play with?"

She shook her head. "I want to be with you."

"Eh?" he let out at first. "Listen... How about we go find some more girls to play tag?" he offered with a gentle smile.

"No." She squeezed Izaya tighter.

"Hmm?" he hummed and rubbed the girls back for comfort. "Okay, how about playing hide and seek with the other's then? I'm sure they'll be more than happy to play."

"No, I want to be with Iza... Iza..." she buried her face into Izaya's chest.

"Izaya," he said gently, helping her with his name. "I'll play with you and the girls," he assured her. "We can all play, ne?"

"No, I don't want to share you with them," she sobbed.

"Oh. Hey, hey." He smiled and pulled the girl away a bit to look at her. "Don't cry, ne? I'm living in this tribe now. I won't leave. But you have to play with other kids, ne? Trust me, it's really fun," he assured her, wiping a tear away with his thump.

"But I want to be with you."

"You're with me now, right? I think we should try and see if there are other girls who would like to play too, ne? Trust me."

Nera rubbed her eyes and slowly nodded. Shizuo had been standing on the sidelines, just staring at the somewhat cute moment.

Izaya smiled at the girl and scooped her up in his arms, making her sit on his waist. He completely forgot all about Shizuo. "So, Any girls we could ask?" he smiled at her and rubbed her wet cheeks.

She started giggling the moment she got lifted up into Izaya's arms. "They always hang out near the lake," she said.

"Alright." He turned around and went towards the lake and Shizuo followed behind, though Izaya had forgotten all about him. Near the lake they saw four other girls. Izaya took note that the five boys he had played with earlier probably were going to marry these four girls and the one in his arms. "Hey." He started and the girls turned to look at him.

"Hi!" One of the girls greeted.

"You girls wanna play tag with us?"

"Yeah!" They all exclaimed and giggled.

"Nera-chan! Let's play!" one said and it made Izaya smile.

"See?" he told the girl in his arms.

"That's because you're with me," she mumbled, hiding her face in Izaya's neck.

"I'm sure it's not," he chuckled. "Then come, let's go back, shall we?" he turned around and almost right into Shizuo. "Oh.. S-sorry, Shizuo. I-is this okay?" All the girls stood by Izaya, one eve held onto his free hand and he squeezed the little girls hand in response.

"When you're done, you can come back to the tent." The blonde smiled. "I won't be sticking around." The blonde smiled at the little girls and headed back towards his tent. Nera suddenly spoke.

"Why do you call him Shizuo?". The other girls looked up at Izaya.

"Hm? Because it's his name. Why?"

"We always call him Shizu-chan." The girls started giggling.

"Ah? Shizu-chan?" he chuckled. [It fits him perfectly] Izaya thought. "I'm guessing you do that when he's not hearing then?" he smiled.

"We've never tried saying it while he was around." She giggled. "But he would get mad I think."

"Exactly. Better not tell him that." Izaya chuckled and began walking with the small girls. They all played for about an hour or so and then Izaya said he had to leave. The girls were disappointed but continued playing after Izaya left. And Izaya smiled at that. [Cute..] He went back into the tent with a smile on his face. "Hey," he greeted the working Shizuo.

Shizuo looked over his shoulder, seeing a smiling Izaya. "What? Had fun with the girls?" he mocked.

"Actually... I did. You should have seen the happy expression on Nera's face when I left and they continued to play," he said ignoring the mocking tone in Shizuo's voice as he began cleaning from the work Shizuo had done by now.

"Turning into a girl now?"

"Who knows." He chuckled.

"Better find some different clothes for you then." Shizuo continued the joke.

"Good idea. Maybe one of those baggy leather dresses would fit me," he said as he stood up and made a girls pose with both hands resting on his hips while he only rested on one leg and lifted a shoulder slightly.

"I think it might." Shizuo chuckled. Izaya started laughing at the joke now, while cleaning up. It was just so silly. Shizuo watched Izaya clean up.

"Hm?" Izaya said after awhile. He had noticed how Shizuo stared at him. "What is it?" he chuckled.

"Oh nothing big. I think that girl Nera's got a crush on you," he smirked.

"Eh? I hope not.. That's not good."

The blonde shrugged.

"Let's hope she'll grow up to love one of the boys her age, ne? Anyway, what would you like for dinner?"

"Uh, tough one. I don't think the other boy's can compete with you." Shizuo winked.

Izaya couldn't help but blush violently at that remark. "U-umm.. I, umm.. D-dinner! Yes, dinner, w-what would you like for dinner?"

"Hm? Did I embarrass you?"

"N-no..." he said looking down at his hands.

"Of course not," he smirked. "About dinner.. Surprise me."

"O-okay." He smiled a bit and went to the kitchen. It was getting late, so he might as well get started. He decided to use some of that meat from yesterday and make some bread too and have some carrots as a side dish.

The blonde couldn't help but observe the other male. He left his things on the ground and just watched.

"Hmm... Ah, there," Izaya said to himself. He cut some meat off with a knife, which Shizuo probably had made himself. He put some oil on the big stone plate and noted himself that he should make some more soon. He put the meat on the plate after having the oil on and then began baking bread. Some time later he had finished the bread and put that on the plate too, and prepared carrots as well. He looked over his shoulder and saw the blonde staring. "Hm?"

Shizuo was caught off guard and looked away. "Nothing.."

"Mhmm.. Hungry?"

"Yeah."

"It won't take long," he chuckled and sat down beside the blonde. "Taking a break?"

"Yeah.. even though I shouldn't." He sighed.

"I think it's alright to take a break once in a while," Izaya said as soon as Shizuo had finished. "You always work anyway, ne? Sometimes you need a break too, just like everyone else."

"What are you? My wife?" Shizuo spat out, looking at the other. "Uh.." he looked away again.

There was a few seconds of silence but then Izaya laughed lightly. "If it makes you take a break you can call me what you like."

"How about cuddling-freak?"

"C-c-cuddling?" he blushed. "Shizuo..."

"What? You like cuddling... apparently."

"Yeah... A-apparently," he chuckled lightly.

"Why are you acting like that?"

"Like what?"

"Stuttering..."

"I don't know what you're talking about.." he tried to laugh. The blonde raised a brow. Izaya patted the other's shoulder and smiled.

"I'm hungry..." Shizuo mumbled and put his working things away.

"I'll go check on the food." He chuckled and used Shizuo's shoulder as support when he rose from the ground and went back to the stone plate to check up on their food.

Shizuo went closer to Izaya and quickly snatched a carrot and munched on it.

"Ah? Impatient I see."

"I'm hungry!" he exclaimed. "Don't let me stay hungry!"

"I see why." He chuckled lightly at the small outburst from the blonde. "It's almost done."

"Better be."

"It is, it is. Just sit down and relax a bit."

Shizuo sat and quietly munched on the carrot.

After a while the food was finally done and Izaya put the two pieces of meat in different two bowls and put the bread in another bowl. "Dinner's ready," he said and put the two meat bowls down before Shizuo and then he got the bowl with bread and gave that to Shizuo too. They had run out of grapes so the blonde would have to do with water. He put the two water bowls down before Shizuo too. "There you go." He smiled.

"That's better," Shizuo mumbled and began to eat.

They both ate their food, chatting about this and that while eating until both had finished and Izaya took the bowls away to clean them. "You should go to bed early today. Umm, not to sound demanding or anything."

"And why do you think that?" Shizuo sighed as he felt somewhat stuffed.

"Because you were really exhausted yesterday and we got up early today."

"And who's fault was that?"

Izaya tensed a bit but decided not to answer that and just kept cleaning the dishes. It's not like it was his fault he got sick. He definitely didn't ask for it.

"Izaya! Izaya!" a little girl ran into Shizuo's tent and over to Izaya.

"What the?" Shizuo raised a brow and glared at the girl.

"Eh? Wha-?" Izaya let out confused.

"Come play!" Nera giggled, but frowned short after. "Why are you cleaning?"

"Why? Because I was told to." He smiled at the girl as he finished the last bowl.

"I've never seen a boy clean.." she mumbled.

"If you don't have a girlfriend which neither Shizuo or I have, you have to do it yourself," he explained and dried his hands off.

"Girlfriend? Is that a person you like? Do you like someone, Izaya?" she smiled.

"Eh?" he stopped everything he was doing and froze for a second. "Umm.. No, I don't." But was that really true?

"You don't?" the girl's expression turned sad. "I told you," Shizuo sing-songed as he saw the girl's expression.

"Hm?" Izaya turned to Shizuo and then looked at the girl. "Oh.. Come here." He smiled and invited her in for hug. Nera quickly hugged Izaya and he wrapped his arms around the girl and hugged her to calm her down. "Did you like playing with the other kids?"

"I liked being with you more."

"Ah, that's no good. I mean, of course I'm happy you like being with me, but you have to play with the other kids, ne? You seemed very happy when you played earlier," he said gently.

"But you were there too!"

"Yes, in the beginning, ne?"

"Izaya-chan~ I want to be with you right now!" she whined into the male's chest.

"Nera.. How do you want to be with me?" he asked seriously.

"Just be together."

"Like friends?"

"Huh?" she looked up at Izaya.

"Be together like friends? Ne?" he smiled. "Or like a brother?"

"More than that," she mumbled into the male's chest.

"Look.. I'm waaaay too old for that, ne?" he explained carefully.

"No," she whined.

"I'm sorry, but I am. But you can call me Nii-san if you would like, ne? I think that would be much better." He smiled and pulled the girl away just enough for him to look at her face.

"But.."

"Trust me. You will like that much better too." He smiled, patting the girls head.

She shook her head and sobbed.

"Trust me," he said again, looking directly into her small beautiful eyes. "Let me see a smile." He smiled at her. "A cute one."

"When I grow older..." she sobbed. "I want to be with you."

"I'm sorry, but that won't do. I'm still too old for you. When you're at my age, I'll be old."

"No.. I promise.. I'll do anything for you."

"No, no, no. Don't. Really. Let's just get you home. I know you'll find someone your age one day that you will like muuuch better than an old man like me," he chuckled and picked the girl up as he walked out of the tent. "I'll be back soon," he told Shizuo as he left.

Shizuo couldn't help but chuckle at the two of them.

"But Izaya.. No one is better than you." She buried her face in his neck.

"I'm sure there is." He smiled. "Where is your tent?"

She shook her head. "Can't we just hang out for a while?"

"It's too late. And it's cold outside now. Another day, okay?" he paused. "Now, where is your home, Nera?" he said gently.

"Nera?" a voice called.

"Is that your mom?" Izaya questioned.

"Yes," she paused. "I don't want to go home..." she sobbed. "Stay with me." Nera wrapped her arms around Izaya's neck.

"Hey, look, your mother must be worried about you. Besides, I'm not leaving. We can play again some other day. And with the other girls too, ne? But, then you have to promise me to be a good girl and play with the other girls, okay?" he said as he walked towards her mother.

"N-no.." she hiccupped.

"Oh, you've got the hiccups?" he chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure you can do it. And I know you'll enjoy it," he said.

"Nera?" the woman questioned. Izaya turned his gaze away from the woman and handed her Nera.

The girl sobbed. "Izaya-chan.." she reached out for him, but her mother held onto her.

"What did you do?" the woman asked.

"I didn't do anything to her," he assured her with a smile on his lips.

"Then why is she upset?" the woman glared at Izaya.

"She seems to like me..." he said shyly.

"Nera!" the woman looked at her daughter.

"Mommy.." she sobbed and hid her face.

"Oh, dear." The woman turned to Izaya again. "Well, thanks for keeping an eye on her at least."

"Y-you're welcome. She came to me just now and didn't wanna go home. I've tried to talk to her about it, but she won't seem to.. let go.. I'm sorry."

"I see.." she nodded. "She won't do that again, I can assure you that."

"Eh? D-don't worry about it. I don't mind playing games like tag and such with the kids."

The woman smiled weakly at him. "Goodnight," she said and left. "Izaya!" the little girl cried as her mother took her away.

"Goodnight." He waved and left too. It hurt a bit to see her like that, but he knew it was for the best. He ran to the tent since it was cold outside. "Hey."

"How was your date?"

"It's not funny. She was really upset." He chuckled anyway. "She'll understand sooner or later. Ready for bed?"

"Yeah, whatever." Shizuo shrugged. "But no cuddling tonight!"

"H-hey! I didn't do that on purpose and you're not any better yourself."

"You wanted it," Shizuo mumbled and sat down on the bed.

"N-no I didn't.." he said and moved on the bed as well. "I was just cold," he explained and lay himself down.

"Good excuse." Shizuo rolled his eyes. He laid himself down and pulled the blanket up to his head.

"Goodnight," Izaya said, snuggling into his pillow and the wolf blanket.

A few minutes passed before Shizuo said goodnight too.

* * *

Christine: New chappie ^^  
Signe: To Makeshift-rolley. Well… Most of the chapters are already written.. Changing them now is… Sorry, we won't change it all now (: The 'he' thing, well… don't know what to say to that. I'm sorry if you don't get who does what ^^ We'll try to make it more clear.  
About the 'excuse' then it's not an excuse. We wanted the story to be like this, and that's why we wrote it this way. We haven't thought about looking into the whole Native American thing because we didn't want the story to be like that. We wanted to… create a world, maybe a bit like the Native American thingie – but I'm not sure, because I don't know anything about it.. xb  
About the dialogue… As you might know, we are two writing this story, and to us, it's a bit hard not writing dialogue when you're two writing it. The characters have to communicate a lot for it to work for us. Anyway, we won't be able to change that either since most of the story is already written. We just need to edit them for mistakes and make the chapters ^^ But we'll take it in to consideration.  
Thanks for the review.


	15. Wedding

"So, do you wear anything special?" Izaya asked Shizuo as they ate breakfast. Today they were going to Kara's wedding.

"Just the finest clothing you own." The blonde shrugged. "But not too much, since it's the couple getting married who has to stand out at their own wedding. If you get what I mean."

"I-I do. Then I'll just wear this as I usually do."

Shizuo nodded.

"Okay, then let's get ready," he said and took the empty bowls which were quickly cleaned. "Shall we?"

"Geez, are you excited?"

"Hm? Well, I guess I'm a bit curious."

Shizuo smiled at that. "I guess it is rather special for the couple."

"Guess? Of course it is." He smiled.

"Tell me. Do you have arranged marriage in your tribe too?"

"Sometimes. I mean... It depends on your family, I guess."

Shizuo frowned at that. "That doesn't really make sense.."

"Well.. We do have arranged marriages. But a few families don't approve at it. So they don't. It's a bit confusing, I know. But you get used to it."

"Right.." the blonde sighed.

"Oh well, let's get going."

"Do you mind? I haven't even changed yet," Shizuo growled.

"Whoops. Hurry, or we'll be late."

"Yeah, yeah." Shizuo quickly changed into his white wolf fur with black fading stripes here and there, which he wrapped around his waist. He looked down at himself and then at Izaya. "What?"

"It suits you." He blushed.

"Thanks..." he mumbled and went past Izaya and out onto the centre of their camp to meet up with the other tribe members.

Izaya followed behind and was a bit shy as a lot from the tribe stared at him for a bit once they got their eyes on him. A lot of them greeted Shizuo and Izaya while the kids were all over Izaya before their parents came to get them.

Shizuo found a spot where he and Izaya could sit. "We'll sit here," he said and sat down, Izaya following. The blonde sat in his normal position. He looked at Izaya and slapped him over the thigh "Sit properly," he hissed.

Izaya quickly did as told and sat crossed legged. Shizuo just _had_to be angry. Of course. Izaya noticed they sat in the back and figured it was probably because Shizuo was afraid that Izaya would do something wrong and embarrass the blonde. But Izaya was determined that he would try his best not to do anything wrong.

"Izaya!" Nera laughed as she ran towards him and hugged the raven-haired. "My mom let me sit with you!" she smiled widely.

"Really? Oh that's great." He smiled.

She seated herself in between Izaya's legs and leaned up against his chest, looking up at the raven-haired.

"Ah, you have to sit down beside me, ne?" he said and lifted the girl down beside him instead. "There we go." He smiled.

"But why?"

"It's not very proper to do at a wedding." He smiled.

She pouted but soon cheered up since Izaya didn't shoo her away.

Everyone got silent as a man dressed in wolf skin began to talk up to an elderly woman. The elderly woman stood by him and suddenly a girl dressed in white fur walked towards him. Then the guy in wolf skin began talking and after two minutes Izaya got bored and didn't pay a 100 percent attention. But he heard most of it. Suddenly one of the men rose from the ground and Izaya stood up as well thinking that everybody would.

Shizuo looked at Izaya and then quickly pulled him back down. "What are you doing?" he whispered, keeping Izaya down.

"Hmpft!" Izaya let out in a whisper. "Wh-what? I thought-"

"Shh!" Shizuo hissed and looked back up at the couple, who were looking at him with a frown. Shizuo tried to form a smile on his lips.

Izaya looked down at the ground in embarrassment as the wedding went on.

Nera gently poked at Izaya. "Has Izaya never been to a wedding before?" she whispered.

"Not in this tribe," he whispered back.

Shizuo heard Izaya whisper and lashed his arm out, hitting Izaya's chest. The blonde didn't look away from the couple.

"Hn! Let's talk later, ne?" he finished and looked back at the couple, rubbing his chest where Shizuo had hit him.

"Shizu-chan is mean," Nera mumbled.

"Shh." Izaya chuckled.

Shizuo watched the couple intensively. Oh, how he longed for a woman to be near him. Kara looked absolutely stunning in that white fur. The blonde couldn't help but feel a bit sad at some point since he really wanted to be that guy up there. Maybe not get married with Kara, but just someone. He remembered the time his mother told him about marriage. She got his hopes up for nothing. She hadn't told him about their rules on purpose as to not make him sad. Shizuo couldn't get over that fact. Why didn't his mother just tell him straight away? That he was doomed to be left alone without a woman's care? The thought of that time made the blonde clench his fists as he watched the couple smile at each other. The male staring into those eyes he had been longing for, for so long. The clan's healer was the one to tie a piece of cloth around the lovers hands as to seal their contact. The male would have his hand under the female's as to hold her hand up, let her fine fragile hand show. In the other hand Kara held a fine bowl. She took a sip and lovingly gave it to her husband, as to confess to him. Of course the male accepted this fine confession and drank some of the bowl's contents. Their eye contact never broke. Not once. Shizuo had to look away for a while. He didn't need to get angry or sad over something like that. The blonde looked towards Kara's mother, who tried to fight back her tears. Kara's father sitting proudly and watching his daughter exchange vows with another man. Kara was young, and it was normal in this tribe to get married at the age of 17 at a minimum. Her husband was a couple of years older than her, but that didn't mean anything to this tradition of theirs.

A few minutes passed and the couple went down through the crowd of people watching them, holding hands under that piece of cloth. They made their way back to a tent; a newly built one. Amazingly, Izaya had managed to stay somewhat quiet through the entire wedding. He had embarrassed the blonde once though, and he was going to hear for it later, but right now the blonde didn't feel like saying or doing anything. He envied that new couple. He had envied everyone who were married or got married. Learning to let the fact, of him being alone for the rest of his life, go, was hard. But he had to try. As the couple entered their tent, Shizuo rose from the ground and walked back to his tent in silence.

"Eh? Shizuo?" Izaya questioned as the blonde suddenly left.

"Eh? What's wrong with Shizu-chan?" Nera asked as she turned to look after the blonde.

"He's fine," Izaya assured her with a smile on his lips as to not make the girl worried. "But I should be going home too. Let's find your mother," he said as he rose from the ground and held the girls hand.

"Don't worry.. I can find my way home." She smiled, squeezing Izaya's hand. "But before I leave..." she motioned Izaya to come down to her.

"Hm?" Izaya did as she asked and kneeled down before her.

Nera quickly gave the boy a kiss on the cheek before she giggled and ran towards her home.

[Cute,] Izaya chuckled, slightly taken aback by the acting. With that, Izaya remembered how Shizuo had suddenly left and he hurried back to the tent. "Shizuo?"

"What?" he raised a brow, looking surprised at the other male.

"Umm... Are you... alright?" he said, approaching the blonde.

"I'm fine, why?" he smiled.

"You just suddenly left without saying a word," he explained and sat down beside the blonde.

"Just remembered something I had to do," he paused. "Now that I think about it, you really made me look like an idiot today." Shizuo sighed.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

"You should be," Shizuo scolded.

"I am... I didn't know what to do.. So I messed up.. Sorry."

"You didn't pay attention, did you?"

"Maybe not a 100 percent.. But I heard most of what he said."

The blonde sighed. "Always listen to what other's say, especially at weddings."

"Sorry. I do my best not to cause you trouble. I should have paid more attention."

"And another thing. Don't you think people could hear you whisper with Nera, huh?" Shizuo started to raise his voice without intending to.

[He's mad...] "I couldn't just ignore her.."

"Yes you could. That wasn't important compared to the wedding!"

"I'm sorry, Shizuo. I didn't mean to make you angry. Calm down, ne?"

"Well, you did. Go do something else than sitting here," he shooed Izaya away.

"Eh?" he let out slightly confused by Shizuo's odd behaviour. Something must be wrong. "Shizuo?"

"Didn't you hear me?"

"I did. But.."

"Then get going!"

Izaya flinched. "W-what's wrong?" he asked as he rose from the ground.

"Just.. get out."

Izaya was torn between going out and letting the blonde be or stay with him to hear what was on his mind.

"Are you deaf? Get out!" he yelled as he rose from the ground.

"S-Shizuo, please calm down," Izaya tried.

Shizuo kneeled down in front of Izaya to untie the leather strap around his ankle. He tossed it onto the bed and grabbed Izaya's arm, dragging him towards the tent's opening. The blonde pushed Izaya out of the tent, making him land face-first into the dirt. Shizuo went back into the tent and started working again.

"Ouch.." he let out as he sat up and rubbed his cheek. "What is wrong with him?" Izaya said out loud to himself.

"Eh? Izaya-chan! What happened?" Nera asked as she saw the raven-haired sit on the ground.

"N-nothing." He smiled at the girl. "I just fell when I left the tent," he chuckled. "Stumbled over my own feet."

"Silly." Nera chuckled. "Are you coming out to play with us for a bit?"

"Ah, sorry. Today isn't a good day." he thought for a second. "I need to go out and find some fruits."

Nera blinked in confusion. "Fruits? Can I come with you?" she smiled.

"I'm sorry, Nera. Not today. Another time I'll take you if your mother'll let you, alright?"

The girl gently nodded. "Okay." she went to play with her friends.

With that Izaya stood up from the ground and headed to the woods. He ran some of the way because he was going pretty far. Finally, he had reached the spot he wanted and plucked 4 bunches of grapes. Maybe it would calm the blonde down a bit if he got something Izaya knew he loved. With the bunches in his arms, he went back to the camp and hesitated before entering the tent.

Shizuo had changed into his normal leather clothing around his waist and had gone to bed to rest a bit. He hadn't noticed Izaya, who was back already.

[Hm? He's _resting_? Shizuo.. Is resting.. Now I know for sure that something is wrong..] Izaya thought as he carefully moved to the kitchen-part of the tent and plucked two of the bunches of grapes, putting them in a bowl. After that, he mashed them with the stone he usually used. And then he removed the skin from the grapes, making the liquid a 100 percent fluid. He sat down beside the bed with the bowl in his hand. "Shizuo?" he said in a low and gentle voice.

There was no response from the blonde.

"Shizuo? Are you sleeping?" he continued and put the bowl on the ground. He placed a hand on the blondes arm.

Shizuo shrugged it off. "Why are you already back?" he growled.

"Umm.. I made you some grape juice," he tried.

"Mhmm," Shizuo mumbled.

"Would you like some?"

"Later."

"Okay. Are you not feeling well?" he continued in a gentle and calming tone as he slid a hand down to Shizuo's forehead.

"Izaya.. leave me alone, alright?" Shizuo mumbled, snuggling his face deeper into the fur pillow.

Izaya removed his hand and no matter how many times he thought it over, he couldn't get himself to just leave. Instead he kept sitting beside the blonde. That's when he remembered how he would usually comfort his sister's when they weren't feeling well or were sad. He moved his hand into Shizuo's hair, running his hands through the golden locks, rubbing his scalp gently in the process.

The blonde tensed at the sudden contact, but soon relaxed as he got used to the gentle fingers running through his hair.

Izaya smiled as he noticed how the blonde had tensed at first but then relaxed, slumping his shoulders.

"No, it's not fair," Shizuo suddenly said.

"Hm?"

"This whole marriage thing."

"Oh... Now I think I now why you left. Am I right?"

"Does it even matter?"

"Yes. It does. And I agree with you. It's not fair at all."

The blonde sighed. "I'm sorry for throwing you out."

Izaya smiled at that. "It's alright. Don't worry about it." he paused. "Do you wanna talk about it? This whole marriage thing."

"There's nothing to say, so no."

"Okay. If that's how you feel," he said in a gentle tone. His hand then slid from the back of Shizuo's head, down his neck stopping at the nape of his neck to slide back into his hair. He repeated the motion.

Shizuo kept quiet and just enjoyed the attention.

[He's not protesting] Izaya thought and just kept it up, hoping the blonde would relax and enjoy it. But why was he doing this in the first place? Normally he wouldn't nuzzle others this way to comfort them. He would maybe pat their back a bit or if it was a child hug them and stroke their back, but not like this. But... it just felt _right_.

Shizuo began feeling dozy and soon fell asleep, lightly snoring.

"Hm?" [I put him to sleep?] Izaya thought and removed his hand. [I didn't even mean to... Oh well, I'll let him be for an hour or so and then wake him up. He didn't sleep a lot last night either.] he thought to himself. An hour would do him good.

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Christine: Update :D! Enjoy~


	16. Love?

In the past hour Izaya had cleaned the tent, being careful not to make too much noise and wake the blonde. But now it was about time he got up. If Izaya didn't wake him he would probably be angry and yell at Izaya that he wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Izaya rolled his eyes at the thought and sat down behind the blonde. "Shizuo?" he asked gently.

"Hnn.." Shizuo mumbled as he snuggled his face deeper into the pillow.

"Wake up~" he placed a hand on Shizuo's arm and stroke it gently.

"Hm?" he raised a brow and slowly opened his eyes. "Huh?" he slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Izaya smiled.

"Hm? How long did I sleep?"

"For about an hour."

The blonde sighed. "Great..." he mumbled.

"I think you could use that hour."

"Probably." He yawned again.

"Still tired?" he asked and placed a calming hand on the blonde's shoulder.

Shizuo nodded.

"Maybe you should sleep a bit more?"

"No, then I won't be able to sleep tonight," Shizuo mumbled and rubbed his eyes again, rising from the bed.

[Knew it] "Okay. Then we'll just go to bed early."

"Mhmm.." Shizuo waved Izaya off. "Where's that grape drink I didn't get to drink?"

"Ah, it's right here," Izaya said and went to the kitchen. He picked it up and went to hand it to Shizuo. "Here."

"Great, thanks." Shizuo took the bowl and drank it all in one go. "Ah, much better. Thanks," the blonde said as he handed Izaya the bowl again.

"Feeling better?"

Shizuo nodded tiredly.

"I'm glad. What would you like to do now? I've already cleaned the tent."

"Isn't it about time to get some dinner?"

"Hm? I guess it is." Izaya smiled. "The sun is setting now that I think about it." He went to the kitchen and began making the day's meal.

"Tch.. don't even have the energy to start working," the blonde mumbled to himself.

Izaya cut off some meat, a rather large piece for Shizuo and a normal size for himself. He put the rest of the olive oil on the stone plate followed by some meat. He had already lit the fire not long after Shizuo had fallen asleep. He made some bread which he put on the stone plate and mashed some berries to put onto the bread. He knew these things didn't go well together but he didn't really care.

He knew Shizuo liked the Wojapi he had made before and thought it might cheer him up a bit. Besides, he seemed to be very fond of meat as well and therefore he made both along with a new portion of grape juice. Izaya could go with water.

"Is the food done yet?" Shizuo asked, starving.

"Almost." Izaya chuckled as he looked over his shoulder to look at the blonde. "Hm? Not gonna work?"

"Nah.. I can't find the energy for it."

"Really? That tired, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Dinner will be done soon and then we can go to bed, okay? Just a few more minutes. Well, the bread is ready, so we can just start with that," Izaya said and put the bread in a bowl and took the bowl along with the one with the mashed berries as he put them before the blonde.

"Great," Shizuo mumbled and began to eat.

Izaya put a bowl of water for himself along with a bowl of grape juice down too. "Here you go." He smiled and sat down as well. Shizuo nodded a 'thanks' to Izaya and continued eating. They ate in silence and Izaya went to get the meat too when that was done.

"Did you get your leather strap back?"

"M-my leather strap?! Where is it?!" Izaya exclaimed as he examined his ankle for the missing item.

"Okay, you didn't," Shizuo sighed. "It's over on the bed."

Izaya flew from the ground and quickly spotted the strap on the bed. He sighed in relief and put it back on. He then went back to Shizuo and sat down.

"It's not my fault you forgot about it." Shizuo shrugged.

"I haven't even said anything."

"You've been here for over an hour and you didn't notice that you weren't wearing it," he paused. "You're forgetting it already?"

"Stop. I don't wanna hear it."

The blonde smirked. "Fine, fine."

"I don't wanna forget her, ne?" Izaya smiled.

"Then remember it, whenever you leave it here or when I take it."

Izaya stared at the blonde for a while but then smiled. This was clearly the blonde's way of helping him. "Yeah. I will."

"Good."

Izaya soon after took the bowls away and began cleaning them. "You can just lie down."

"Yeah.. I'll go to bed," Shizuo said, yawning.

Soon after Izaya had cleaned the bowls and went to bed too. "Hey, are you sleeping?" he said as he lay himself down beside the blonde.

"Not yet," he mumbled.

"You really are tired today, hm?" Izaya smiled and looked at the other's back.

"Yeah..." the blonde sighed.

"G-goodnight then," he stuttered. He thought about the wedding from earlier and how Shizuo seemed sad about it and had agreed it wasn't fair. But Shizuo could get someone, couldn't he? There should be a way for Shizuo to be happily married just like everyone else, shouldn't there?

"Night.." the blond mumbled lazily.

Izaya spent hours to figure out what to do and he couldn't seem to fall asleep. He didn't even feel tired since he was too occupied in his thoughts about Shizuo. Shizuo and him. And then it hit him. A solution that could make the blonde happily married. And... It would make Izaya happy too. Win, win situation, right? But... Was he sure that was what _he _wanted? What Izaya himself wanted. [Well.. It surely would make Shizuo happy... But will I be happy too if he agrees? I would, wouldn't I? No.. Because he always gets mad way too fast.. But, then again, I'm not that scared when it happens anymore... And he was pretty nice when I fell sick... But then he blamed me because he was tired since I hadn't been able to work... But he didn't snap at me and asked how I felt and gave me water and even went to their healer.. No, no, he threw me out of the tent earlier! But.. he did apologize...] Izaya was having an inner debate with himself about whether or whether not he should do this. But in the end, he decided he was going to try it.

"Hey, Shizuo, Shizuo?" Izaya said in a happy, low tone as he sat up in the bed and gently shook the blonde.

"Hnn.." Shizuo growled in annoyance. "I can't believe you've got the guts to wake me up in the middle of the night!"

"Ne, ne, Shizuo?" Izaya said as he sat on his knees and leaned over the blonde to look at his face, though it was dark; he leaned some of his weight on his hand on Shizuo's side.

"What do you want?"

"You know that talk we had about women, right?"

The blonde sighed. "Yes?"

"I... want to be yours.." he blushed.

The blonde turned to look at the other, but that didn't help at all, since it was completely dark. "What?" he frowned.

"I, umm... I want to be with you.."

"What are you talking about?... Izaya, you're tired... Just get some sleep," Shizuo mumbled, still frowning though. For some reason his heart started beating faster and faster.

"No.. I-I'm serious, Shizuo."

"You.." he stopped. "I.." he frowned. "Us?" Shizuo asked, sitting up in the bed.

"Yes... _us._"

"We're both male..."

"I know..."

Shizuo buried his face in his hands, thinking it over. "We can't... it's just not possible?"

"We can figure something out. C-can't we?" Izaya said moving closer to the figure he could hardly see.

Shizuo looked up from his hands and towards the other male. "Iza-"

Izaya cut the blonde off by leaning in and kissing the other's lips, found by listening to the other's voice.

"Mm!" the blonde's eyes widened. He didn't push the other away though.

Izaya felt a bit more confident and clumsily deepened the kiss. This was his first kiss after all.

"Mm.." Shizuo let out. He had no idea how it felt to be kissed like this, so he started panicking a bit. What was he supposed to do?

Izaya was stunned at the sudden moan but soon got over it and continued. He put a hand on Shizuo's shoulder, caressing it.

Shizuo pulled back. "That.." he started.

"T-that?"

".. Felt good," he finished.

Izaya blushed violently, feeling grateful that it was dark so the blonde wouldn't be able to see. "Y-yeah.."

Shizuo gulped and quickly found Izaya's lips again, locking them in another deep, passionate kiss.

"Mmm.." Izaya moaned and leaned into the kiss as he began to nuzzle the other's shoulder with his thumb again.

The blonde shifted himself, so that he could lay Izaya down on the bed.

Izaya felt himself being gently lead down until he lay down on his back. "Nnn.. Shizuo," he moaned into the other's lips. Experimenting, he nipped the other's bottom lip.

"Hnn.." the blonde locked their lips again.

The raven was nervous. He had never kissed anyone or cuddled for real with anyone. But maybe Shizuo had more in mind than just caressing touches and kisses? Izaya placed his hands on the other's chest and slid them to his shoulders.

It felt great to finally be able to kiss someone. Shizuo was happy, deep down. But he was also a bit nervous about it. This feeling stirring around in him was definitely something special, something he had longed for without knowing. But who would have known that Shizuo would share his feelings with another male?

Izaya wrapped his arms around Shizuo neck, still feeling nervous as to what to do.

In the middle of the kiss Shizuo pulled back, frowning. He looked down at a black figure, not knowing how his expression was. A thought sprang to Shizuo's mind. Sex. How were they going to do that?

"Shizuo," Izaya moaned without meaning to.

"Hm?" Shizuo blinked, still holding onto that thought. "Uh, Izaya?"

"Y-yes?"

He gulped. "Uh, since we're... doing this. Doesn't that mean that we're going to... have... sex... a-at some point?" he stuttered, which was completely unlike him.

Izaya tensed at that. "S-so.. you.. want to be with me?"

Shizuo slowly nodded, not sure if Izaya would see it.

Izaya could feel Shizuo move his head. "What?" he asked carefully, not sure whether the blonde nodded or shook his head.

"Yes.. Yes I want to," Shizuo mumbled.

Izaya smiled a bit at the response. So his feelings were mutual. "U-umm.. I don't know how to do t-_that_..."

Shizuo frowned at the answer. "I don't know either.."

"You.. want to?"

"Yeah.."

"U-umm.. We could light the fire?" he asked. "T-then we can see what we're d-doing, ne?"

"Right.." Shizuo moved away from the raven-haired to light the fire.

The moment Shizuo left him he felt like something was missing. Pathetic, really, but he couldn't help but miss the warmth of Shizuo's body and the feeling of his lips against Izaya's own. It just felt _right_. Comforting. Good.

"There.." Shizuo mumbled to himself as the fire started. He went back to Izaya and crawled on top of him, looking down into his eyes.

"Shizuo... Shi...zu-chan?" he tried, blushing a bit.

"Shizu-chan?" the blonde frowned.

"Yeah.. If I'm a cuddle-freak t-then you're Shizu-chan."

"Tch.. it's a weird nickname you've given me."

[He's accepting it] Izaya thought happily. "Yeah..." he said and wrapped his arms around the blonde's neck again.

Shizuo rolled his eyes and kissed Izaya again.

"Nmm," Izaya moaned.

Shizuo felt goosebumps all over his body at the sound Izaya made. It felt good. To get that sound from Izaya again, Shizuo continued.

Izaya parted his lips licking Shizuo's teasingly.

The blonde frowned before parting his lips too. A tongue curiously entered his mouth. His tongue licked the other's, teasingly.

"Nnnn," Izaya moaned at the feeling of the other's tongue as he carefully licked and played with the other's tongue.

There was that feeling again. It felt so good. He continued playing with the other's tongue.

Izaya gently dug his fingers into the base of Shizuo's neck as he grew more dominant which only resulted in Shizuo doing the same. The blonde was the one in control and Izaya liked that. Very much so. "Mm, Shizu.. -chan.. Nnnn."

"Ahh.." Shizuo breathed out before capturing Izaya's lips again. He placed a hand on Izaya's chest, gently brushing the skin.

"Mm," Izaya moaned as he wrapped his legs around the blonde's waist, heels digging into the base of the other's spine.

The blonde dragged his hand across the other's nipple, earning a cute purring from the male. Shizuo decided to experience a bit with that, gently tweaking the hardened nub in between his thumb and index finger.

"Nnn.." Izaya pulled back. "Shizu-chan.. Ah.."

"Does it hurt?" Shizuo stopped.

"Nouu.. D-don't stop."

The blonde smirked and continued his experimenting.

"Shiiii..." Izaya groaned and removed his legs from the blonde's back. Izaya slowly threw his head back in a silent moan.

Shizuo was growing hard at Izaya's soft moans. He removed his hand from the nipple and replaced it with his mouth, gently sucking and nibbling at the hardened nub.

"Ah, Shizu-cha-ahhn..." he placed a hand in the blonde locks, gently rubbing his scalp to encourage him to continue. God, that felt good.

The blonde pulled away and looked up at Izaya's pleasured face. "I can't take much.. more," Shizuo breathed out before kissing Izaya's lips.

"Mhmm." Izaya agreed into the kiss before Shizuo pulled away. "Umm.. Me neither.. But, umm.."

"I don't know.."

"Uh.. umm.. Can't you just.. the other, ne?" he said shyly.

"What?" Shizuo frowned.

"Umm.." he blushed violently and hid his face in his hands. "T-the other hole.." he squeezed out.

Shizuo blinked in confusion. "I guess.. we could try that." He crawled off of Izaya and asked him to turn around.

Izaya nodded, happy that he could turn his flustered face away from Shizuo. He sat up and stood on his knees, slowly untying the leather around his waist. He slid it off his body and off the bed, revealing his erection to Shizuo.

Shizuo couldn't help but look at the other's erection. It only turned him on more. He too untied his waistline clothing and let it fall to the ground. He sat down behind Izaya and slowly pushed his upper body down.

Izaya lay down on his stomach, though he made sure to raise his hip and spread his legs. "T-the fur.. will get, um.. dirty.."

"I know.. we'll have to wash it right after," Shizuo mumbled and positioned himself behind Izaya.

"O-okay.." Izaya said nervously. No, he was not going to back out now! He wanted this too!

"Bear with me.. I think it's going to hurt," Shizuo mumbled and gently pressed his erection against Izaya's opening.

"Nn.. O-okay.."

The blonde gulped and slowly started pushing his cock into the other's hole. "It's okay.." he whispered, trying to comfort Izaya by stroking his lower back. "Hn.."

"Ah!" Izaya practically screamed as the head entered him.

"Hnn.." Shizuo let out, pushing it further in. "Try relaxing Izaya.." he said while stroking the other's back. "Relax.." he repeated.

"Ah.. Hn.. O-okay.. Ah.." he grabbed the fur under his hands and tried to relax, but it didn't seem to work. "S-stop. Hold still."

The blonde stopped immediately. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah.. Just give me a second, ne?" with that Izaya took deep breaths as he focused on the soothing stroking on his back. He soon relaxed more. "I'm ready."

"It's okay.." Shizuo pulled a bit out and then moved back in, pushing his member further in. He watched as it disappeared inch by inch. Once fully inside he pulled a bit out, only to move back in.

"Hnn.." Izaya moaned in pain. "Careful.."

"Of course.. ah.." The tightness around Shizuo's cock made him feel in heaven. He moved slowly, since it would probably hurt Izaya much more than he could even imagine.

"Hnnnhnn..." he whined softly as his insides tried to get adjusted to Shizuo's cock.

"Awh.. ah..." Shizuo moaned in pleasure as he began rocking his hips.

"Shi-Shizu-chan.. Ah.. slower, please."

"Sorry.." he moved slower this time, trying to keep himself from increasing the pace.

After some time he got more used to the feeling and began feeling the pleasure of being filled with the other's member. "Ah... Ahh.. Shizu-chan.. Good.. F-faster"

"Does it feel better?" Shizuo frowned and began rocking his hips in a faster movement.

"Ah.. Y-yes.. Ah.."

"Good.. nn."

"Faster," Izaya moaned when he felt he could handle it.

"Ah.." Shizuo began thrusting into Izaya instead, feeling much more pleasure as he did so.

"Ah.. Shizu-chan~" Izaya moaned at the pleasurable feeling. It hurt slightly but he didn't care when it felt so good at the same time.

Shizuo then suddenly hit a spot inside Izaya, which made him moan louder. The blonde hit that spot again, earning pleasured moans as he did so.

"Ah! Ah! Shizu-chan! There! Ah... Arhhnnnn..." he moaned and tightened his grip on the fur while arching his back; he threw his head back in pleasure.

The blonde continued hitting that spot over and over again, to satisfy his lover. Yes, they were lovers now, right? He felt a light tickling in his abdomen, which made his body heat up. He could barely keep it up anymore. "Ah.. ah.."

"Ahh... Arhh, ann.." Izaya moaned as he felt drool run down his chin.

"Just a bit more.." Shizuo said to himself as he thrust in a few more times. He tightened his grip around Izaya's waist as he came, filling the other up with his semen. "Ahhh.." he breathed out.

"Ah!" Izaya moaned loudly as he was filled with Shizuo's cum. Just the feeling alone made him come himself. "Arrhhgn..."

Shizuo pulled out and let his body collapse on top of Izaya's. He was panting and sweating.

Izaya fell flat on the bed when Shizuo fell down on top of him. Izaya panted as he enjoyed the afterglow of his orgasm. "Ah..."

Shizuo looked at the back of Izaya's head and smiled. He had just lost his virginity, and it felt good.

"Ha.. S-shizu-chan?"

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"N-not really," he breathed out.

The blonde chuckled at the answer.

"Hm? W-what's so funny?" Izaya said with a smile on his lips.

"You're so stubborn," he said and kissed Izaya's upper back.

"Mm.." he purred.

"We should wash the fur before it's too late," Shizuo murmured as he got off Izaya.

Izaya let out a disappointed sigh without meaning to. "Yeah.." he agreed and sat up on the bed, looking down at the mess on the fur and then at his stomach and chest.

Shizuo quickly put on his leather around his waistline.

Izaya stared lazily at the blonde's back as he got dressed.

The blonde turned around to see Izaya sitting and dozing off. "You look tired," he said as he kneeled down before Izaya. A smile formed on Shizuo lips as he gently kissed Izaya's lips. "Thanks."

"Hm? For what?" he smiled.

"For this.." he paused. "But you didn't do it just for me, did you?"

"Partly.."

"Hm? You shouldn't.."

"I wanted to.."

Shizuo nodded. "I never thought you would grow attracted to me."

"Me neither," Izaya chuckled tiredly.

"Stay here while I go wash the fur, okay?" Shizuo mumbled and pulled Izaya off the bed to grab the wolf fur.

"Okay."

With that Shizuo left the tent to wash the fur.

Izaya lazily crawled to a big pot with clean water. He took a bowl and filled with water and put a small piece of oblong fur into the bowl making it wet. With that, he washed his stomach and chest, cleaning it for cum. After that he put the leather piece back around his waist and yawned.

The blonde returned with the clean fur. "We'll have to let it dry over the night.." he mumbled and placed it on ground. "We can sleep on the deer skin.."

"Okay." Izaya smiled and lay down on the deer skin which had been under the wolf fur. The bed was a bit harder but it was good enough.

"You should get some sleep, you seem exhausted," Shizuo said as he lay down beside the other.

"Yeah.." he slid a bit closer to Shizuo under the covers, hoping the other would understand.

"Goodnight." The blonde smiled, nuzzling Izaya's hair.

"Mm," the raven purred and slid a bit closer to the blonde's chest.

* * *

Christine: Omg, it's been such a long time since we last updated! Please forgive us... We are but humble servants... wait. People, we're just ordinary people. :D  
- No, really. There has been happening a lot over the past two months and we just haven't had time to write and update. Sorry, sorry, sorry!  
- omg, couldn't stop giggling while reading this chapter :D


	17. Aftereffects

"Shizu-chan?" Izaya mumbled as he opened his eyes and saw Shizuo's collar bone before him. He closed his eyes again when he felt Shizuo's hand nuzzling the base of his neck.

"Are you awake?"

"Mhmm."

"Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah.. You?"

"The best sleep I've had in a while." Shizuo chuckled.

That embarrassed Izaya and he blushed while hiding his face in the other's chest.

"You're acting like a little girl, don't blush."

"I can't help it.." he pouted.

"Hm? Oh well, doesn't matter. You've been sleeping for some time, so we really should get up and start working." Shizuo removed his arm from Izaya's neck and sat up in the bed.

[What a shame] Izaya thought. He had been so comfortable in Shizuo's warm embrace. Oh well, it couldn't last forever since they would need to eat and such. Izaya sat up and immediately regretted at the intense pain in his butt and lower back. He hissed at the pain and moved a hand to rub at his sore back.

"What's wrong?" Shizuo raised a brow.

"It hurts.." he let out a pained mewl.

"From last night?" Shizuo questioned.

"I don't know... I've never heard two m-males do... _it_ before... But I think that's why my butt hurts.. I don't know about my back.." Yes, his back surely did hurt but it was _nothing _compared to the stinging pain in his ass.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea.." Shizuo felt sad. "Sorry, if I hurt you that bad."

Izaya noticed the sad look on Shizuo's face and felt sorry for saying it hurt. "It's not your fault. I wanted it j-just as much as you did... Ne?"

"It's supposed to be pleasurable, right?" Shizuo paused. "I don't want to hurt you."

"It hurt at first.. But then it _was _pleasurable."

Shizuo lit up a bit. "Sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Alright." Shizuo nodded. "I can't help it if I want it again though.." he mumbled, looking away.

"Me too." Izaya blushed.

"Will you be able to move around?"

"I don't know." Izaya chuckled sadly.

"Try," the blond mumbled.

"Okay," the raven-haired gulped and slowly stood up, legs straight, back bent. God, it hurt. He slowly began to straighten himself but his butt and back really hurt and made him hiss in pain. Why did it have to hurt so much? Oh well, maybe he exaggerated a bit. But it did hurt a lot!

"Does it really hurt that bad?" Shizuo rose from the bed too, to support the other.

"I-it does.."

"I don't really know what to do.." Shizuo mumbled.

"There is nothing you can do," he chuckled and wrapped his arms around the blonde's neck to tenderly kiss his lips.

Shizuo smiled at the sudden kiss. "Just tell me, if you need anything."

"... Cuddle.."

The blonde sighed. "I don't have time for that now.."

"I know," Izaya paused. "Who are you making weapons for anyway? Kara and her husband? Since they moved into a different tent, I figure they don't have much."

"I make weapons for everyone." Shizuo smiled.

"But they're not in need for them now, right?"

"Who knows when we'll need extra weapons if someone decides to stop by an attack us?"

"We have plenty."

"What are you getting at, Izaya?"

"I just wanna cuddle.."

"Fine..." Shizuo mumbled.

"Really?"

"Yeah, whatever." The blonde laid himself back down on the bed, waiting for Izaya.

Izaya painfully sat down on the bed and slowly laid himself down beside the blonde.

Shizuo wrapped his arm around Izaya.

And Izaya snuggled closer, also putting his arm around Shizuo. His nails scratched the blonde mid-back gently.

"Isn't it boring.. just laying here all day?"

"Not all day. Just a bit, ne?" Izaya paused. "Don't you feel comfortable?"

"Not really, I don't get it."

"Okay.." he let out. It still felt a bit awkward to be like this with Shizuo, but it didn't make it any easier when Shizuo didn't even seem to like it. "Oh well, then start working."

"It's an apology to you, okay? I'll stay like this, if that's what you want."

"You don't have to apologize for it."

"I can if I want to. So I will," the blonde said determined.

"Suit yourself," Izaya mumbled and snuggled his face further into the blonde's chest. The pain wasn't all that bad when he just kept still. It was mostly when he moved.

Shizuo rested his head against the pillow and stared at Izaya's black hair. He gently nuzzled the other's back.

"Mmm," Izaya purred at the gentle nuzzling.

Shizuo kept quiet, he didn't know what to say or do. He just kept nuzzling the other.

It didn't take long for the raven to fall asleep from the gentle touch.

Shizuo was surprised to hear a light snoring come from the younger male. "Izaya?" he mumbled.

But there was no response from the other.

"Oh, well.." Shizuo smiled and continued nuzzling Izaya.

"Izaya-chan~!" a little girl's voice was heard outside the tent. Shizuo turned to look towards the opening and then back at Izaya.

"Oi.. Izaya." Shizuo lightly shook him.

"Eh? Are you lying in the same bed as Izaya-chan?" Nera asked as she looked down at the two males.

"Ah, well.. yeah," the blond mumbled.

"Is he sleeping?" she giggled.

"Yes he is." Shizuo looked up at the little girl.

"He looks kinda cute," Nera said as she kneeled down beside Shizuo to look at Izaya's sleeping face. The blonde chuckled.

"What did you want, Nera?" Shizuo asked.

"I just wanted to see Izaya-chan," she mumbled and leaned over Shizuo to looked closely at Izaya. She gently started patting Izaya's head and nuzzling his hair. She giggled.

"Nnn" Izaya let out in his sleep.

"He's so handsome..." Nera suddenly said and started blushing.

"Hm? You like him that much?" Shizuo asked, raising a brow. She nodded and continued stroking Izaya's hair.

Izaya rolled onto his back only to wince in pain and roll back on his side, leading a hand to his lower back to rub lazily.

"Eh? What just happened?" Nera asked, blinking in confusion.

"Your Izaya-chan's back is hurting a bit today," Shizuo simply told the little girl.

"My Izaya-chan?" she giggled and blushed.

"He's one of your friends, right? Friends call each other nicknames, right?" Shizuo smiled. Nera nodded with a smile on her lips.

Izaya moved his head up a bit to lean into the gentle, yet clumsy, nuzzling of his head.

"But can't Izaya and I be more than friends?" Nera asked, pouting.

"I'm afraid not, Nera. He's too old for you." Shizuo had told her the same Izaya had.

"But.. Who is he then going to be with?" she kept staring at Izaya's eyelids while nuzzling his hair. Shizuo tensed for a moment before relaxing again. He didn't really know what to answer to that question. He couldn't just _tell _her about them.

"Hm? Shizuo?" she asked, since she didn't get an answer.

"Ah, well. Who knows." Shizuo smiled back.

"I hope we can still be friends in the future.." she mumbled.

"Of course you can," the blonde chuckled. Nera smiled and nodded.

"You're nice too, Shizu-chan" she mumbled his name. The blonde heard it anyway. Did she just call him Shizu-chan? Is that where the raven-haired had gotten the nickname from? He frowned but let it be.

"Well, thanks." He smiled at her.

"Hmm? Who?" Izaya mumbled as the sounds of someone talking woke him up.

Nera quickly removed her hand, but kept staring at Izaya. "Who what, Izaya-chan?" she giggled.

"Hm?" Izaya blinked until Nera and Shizuo came into focus. "Ah, good morning, Nera." He smiled.

"Morning? It's past noon, Izaya-chan," she giggled.

"It is? Oh, geez," he chuckled. "Guess I fell asleep again."

"You were so cute," she smiled.

"Eh? T-that can't be true," he chuckled awkwardly.

"You were!" she chuckled.

"Oh, why thank you." Izaya smiled.

"Your hair is soft too!" she smiled and placed her hand in Izaya's hair again. "Shizu-chan, don't you think his hair is soft?" she asked as she nuzzled the raven's hair.

"Aha, I guess it is." Shizuo chuckled.

Izaya just closed his eyes and let the girl nuzzle him. He had comforted her and played with her, so why not let the girl have her way. She was so cute and innocent anyway.

"Izaya-chan, don't go back to sleep!" Nera chuckled.

Izaya chuckled at that and reopened his eyes. "Sorry, sorry."

"It's okay." She stared into his crimson eyes, smiling.

"So, have you been playing nicely?"

"Yes!" she said with a wide smile.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Mm!" she nodded lively. "Izaya-chan should've seen Koiri climb a tree! She was really good at it!" Nera chuckled.

"Oh really now? I'll have to see that some day then, ne?"

Nera nodded again.

Izaya smiled and stiffly rolled onto his stomach, resting his weight on his elbows, he bent his back to look at the girl and Shizuo. [Oh, that hurt] he thought. "And we also have to go out to find some fruits some day," he chuckled. "We sure have a lot to do."

"I can't wait!" Nera exclaimed happily.

"Me neither." He smiled at the girl. "It'll be fun."

"Is your back okay?" She asked, suddenly all serious.

"Eh?" Izaya let out, confused by the sudden question and seriousness in the girls tone and features.

The girl just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"It's just sore?" he smiled wryly, still confused as to why the girl knew about it.

"O-okay.." she nodded, feeling a bit sad.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"I hope it doesn't hurt. Izaya-chan has to be okay!" she said determined.

"D-don't worry," he smiled. "It'll eventually disappear, ne?" [Besides, it's nothing compared to how badly my ass hurts.] Izaya thought.

"It will? What did Izaya-chan do?" she tilted her head.

"Do?"

She nodded. "Why does your back hurt?"

"Oh.. umm.. I must have slept wrong."

She pouted. "But.. you won't be able to play today then?"

"I'm sorry. I better stay home for today."

"Then we can play here?" she smiled. "Shizu-chan can join!" she added.

"Wow, what?" Shizuo suddenly said.

"You can join. We can play that we're one big family!" she giggled.

"Wha-?" Shizuo was interrupted by Nera.

"Me and Izaya will be your mommy and daddy!".

"What?" Shizuo raised a brow.

"You know.." Nera pouted.

Izaya started to laugh at the confused Shizuo. And fell on his stomach burying his face in the pillow. "Ahahaha-ow.. Ahaha!"

"Izaya-chan!" Nera exclaimed.

"Don't worry about him, Nera. He's fine," Shizuo mumbled.

"But.." she pouted again.

"Oh, haha.." Izaya finished.

"What are you laughing about, Izaya-_chan._" Shizuo mumbled.

"You. Have you never played family before?" he paused. "My dear son."

"Oh, come on!" Shizuo sighed.

"Yay~ Izaya-chan wants to play!" Nera giggled.

"Sure, but daddy would like to stay in bed for awhile," he mumbled, turning his head from the pillow to look at the blonde.

"You're so lazy, Izaya-chan!" Nera chuckled and crawled to lie in between Shizuo and Izaya.

"But, _daddy_.. I want to do something." Shizuo played along, mocking Izaya. Nera giggled as Shizuo called Izaya daddy.

Izaya actually blushed a bit at that. "But daddy can't do much today, son."

"You're boring, daddy," Shizuo pouted. "Mommy, tell daddy!" he fake-whined.

Nera couldn't help but giggle. "Izaya, you have to spend more time with your son," she scolded, trying to sound like an adult. A smirk grew on Shizuo's lips.

"But daddy wants to spent more time with mommy too." He smiled and rubbed the girls head.

"Aww, Izaya is so sweet," she smiled and hugged Izaya.

"But mommy.." Shizuo pouted. "I want to be with daddy right now," he sniffled.

"Aww, Shizu-chan!" she giggled and hugged Shizuo. "There, there.. it'll be okay," she said as she patted Shizuo's head.

Izaya couldn't help but chuckled. "Daddy can be with both of you."

"Yes," Nera giggled and slumped back down between Shizuo and Izaya.

"Right, _daddy_. What do you want to do?" Shizuo asked, smiling.

"Not much, my son. Just relax," he smiled back.

"Mommy is right, you are lazy." Shizuo chuckled.

"No way. Daddy is just sore," he chuckled.

"Lazy." Shizuo corrected.

"No fighting!" Nera scolded them both.

"Sorry.. mommy," Shizuo pouted.

"Good job, Nera."

"I meant you too!" she giggled. Shizuo stuck his tongue out at Izaya.

"Oh. Whoops." Izaya chuckled and buried his face into the pillow with closed eyes.

Nera nodded. "Good." She patted Izaya's back.

[Oh, how grateful can you be for her not to hit my lower back] the raven-haired inwardly smiled. The gentle patting probably wouldn't have hurt, but you never know. "Mm," he purred softly.

"Feeling better now, dear?" Nera said, a light blush forming on her cheeks.

"Hm?" he questioned with a smile as he lifted his head to look at the small girl.

"Don't fight with your son," she pouted. Shizuo chuckled in the background.

"Don't worry. I won't fight with him. So, what will mommy be doing today?" he said as his head hit the pillow again.

"Whatever daddy will be doing," she chuckled.

"But I'll just be lying here. Won't mommy be bored?"

"No." She shook her head. "If daddy tells me what to do then I'll do that," she smiled, drawing circles on Izaya's back.

Izaya couldn't help but chuckled a bit at the girl. "Maybe your son wants to do something?" He closed his eyes and focused on the motions on his mid-back. "Nera? I don't mind what you're doing, just don't go any lower, okay?" he said in a gentle tone. He was pretty sure it wouldn't hurt, but he might as well be on the safe side.

"Okay.." she mumbled and continued drawing circles on Izaya's back.

"Actually, I'll leave you two alone.. I have some things to take care of," Shizuo mumbled and rose from the bed. "Bye bye, mommy and daddy." He waved at them, grinning to himself, and left the tent.

"I wonder where he is going," Nera mumbled.

"Yeah. Me too." Izaya really did wonder where the blonde was going. He hadn't mentioned he had any business out today. "Oh well, he'll probably be back soon."

"Yup!" Nera smiled and snuggled closer to Izaya.

"Hm? You like lying close, huh?"

She nodded. "It's comfortable."

"Alright," he chuckled. "I don't really mind. We're like siblings, don't you think?" he said, hoping the girl wasn't trying to make him hers.

"Or really close friends," she mumbled into Izaya's side.

"Sure," he agreed. "We really should find a day to go out and find fruits."

"Izaya-chan is so sweet," she smiled, closing her eyes.

"And Nera is a very good and cute girl," he smiled. "You'll get a good husband one day." He chuckled.

"Mm..." she opened her eyes again. "I was hoping it could be you.."

"You know that won't do," he said gently. "I'm too old for you, ne? Just look at me now." He chuckled.

"Shizu-chan also told me."

"See? It's true" he smiled, feeling happy that Shizuo had told her the same thing. He just hoped he hadn't snapped at her or anything the like.

"But I still like you.."

"I'm sorry. It's impossible. There's someone much better out there, waiting for you."

"But.. I'll be a good wife.. I promise."

"I'm still too old, Nera. It just won't do," he said carefully.

"Does it matter that much to you?"

"Yes. I'm too old. Way too old."

"How old are you?"

"17."

"But it's only a 12 years difference."

"That's a way too great difference, Nera. Sorry, but it can't be helped, ne?"

"Promise me you'll be at my wedding when that time comes, okay?" she sobbed.

"Of course. If you want me to, I will. Don't cry, ne? I'm sure you'll care for your husband much more when the time comes."

"As long as you'll still be around I think I'll manage." She dried her eyes.

"Of course you will," he chuckled lightly.

Nera nodded and smiled.

"So.. You sure you don't wanna go do anything? Aren't you bored?"

"No, I'll never get bored when I'm with you."

"If you say so," he smiled, closing his eyes.

Nera looked up at Izaya and smiled. She crawled up to snuggle her head close to his, staring at his face.

"Hm? Nera, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," she giggled.

"Alright."

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm breath being breathed out onto her skin.

* * *

Christine: Omg, couldn't stop laughing at the end…  
Signe: Haha xD Poor Izaya and his butt xD


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